Fall into Flying
by DragonSorceress22
Summary: The thief fell for the detective, the detective followed the thief over that edge, and the organization that plagued them both could not hope to stand up against them. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FALL INTO FLYING SERIES IS BEING CONTINUED ON AO3 ONLY - PLEASE VISIT THAT SITE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE SEQUEL.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** As this fic progresses, it will include formatting and extras that I _know_ fanfiction-net is either going to screw up or leave out entirely. If possible, I recommend reading this on Archive of Our Own instead. However, I still wanted to put it up here in case anyone really does not like AO3 and prefers to read here. I will try to adapt as best I can to make this readable here without too much loss of effect.

Beta'd by solomonara over on AO3. So, soooo patient, she is.

.

 **Case 1 – The Compound**

.

" _He's been getting too close. Too many coincidences. It's time we put him to sleep for good."_

" _Yes, sir. Where should we set it up?"_

" _The research compound at the docks. It should be perfect."_

.

Conan flew around the corner, crouching even as he turned to look for his pursuer while backing into the space behind a large, dusty crate. He froze when he bumped into what was obviously another person and whipped his head back around, hand twitching toward his watch.

"KID!" he whispered, eyes wide in the darkness. His hand fell away from the tranquilizer's trigger.

KID, who was peering around the opposite corner of their shared hiding place, glanced at Conan over his shoulder, unfazed. "Quiet, Tantei-kun, you'll get yourself caught," he whispered back with a grin. They both turned their attention back to looking around the crate.

"What are you doing here?" Conan asked stiffly.

"I have some business with your friends."

KID felt Conan tense behind him, could sense him inching for the watch again. "Calm down, Tantei-kun. Do you really think I'd ever be on their side? I'm honestly insulted."

It took an extra second or two, but Conan abandoned the watch again. KID had sounded unusually serious and maybe even a little angry, the emotion coming through strangely genuine. But instinct was instinct and Conan felt no guilt for reacting the way he had. "Then what are you here for?" he asked.

They both fell silent as soft footsteps neared and someone came into the room. Conan could feel KID tensing, like the spring of a trap being compressed, all confidence and self-assurance. But the person kept moving, passing through the room, and KID relaxed again.

"I'm looking for someone," he answered after a few moments. "It's rare that these people get sloppy enough for me to be able to find one of their bases. I'm just taking the chance."

A bitter smile found its way to Conan's face. "Happy to help," he muttered.

"What's that?"

"I'm pretty sure you were able to find this place because they'd set it up as a trap for me – to lure me in. Well, not _me_ exactly. They were probably expecting the old man since I got him involved."

KID paused a moment, extremely tempted to ask right then and there, once and for all, how Shinichi and the Organization were involved, but he resisted. He put on a grin. "Did you fall for it?" he asked instead.

"Shut up." The response lacked bite because at that moment, another two people, this time armed and clearly looking for something to shoot, walked in and started a preliminary search of the room.

Conan chanced a look back at KID and choked on his surprise when he saw KID facing him, leaning in close with a sharp grin and a finger laid over his lips, instructing Conan to keep quiet even as a gloved hand clamped over the boy's mouth. Then KID picked him up, tucking him under his arm, and paused, watching the two guards for the right opportunity before stepping out of their hiding place. Conan's heart shot into double-time, expecting a confrontation, but instead he was amazed when KID proceeded to move silently into every blind spot between the two until he and Conan were out of the room and running down a hallway.

He didn't stop until they came to a short side hallway where the lights were off and the floor was slick with dust. KID moved into a corner and crouched down among some flattened cardboard boxes that had been left leaning against a wall, setting Conan down beside him.

"So," he started casually, as if they had never been interrupted. "If you knew it was a trap, why did you come?"

Conan considered him silently for a moment before answering. "I want to catch them, of course."

KID's eyes narrowed. "Then you wouldn't have come alone. You would have called the police. There's more to it than that."

His tone left no room for argument and Conan's expression grew serious as he met KID's stare. His throat felt tight but he forced the words out. "Look, you obviously already know… that I'm actually Kudou Shinichi." It was harder than it should have been to say it. He'd almost told Ran so many times, but actually saying it now, in this place, still scared him somehow. "These guys… they're the ones that did this to me, and they're my only shot at getting back to normal."

"And until then, no one can know what's happened to you," KID concluded with more sympathy than Conan felt he should have been able to manage in this situation. Conan nodded anyway.

"Until the Organization is taken down."

KID watched him for a few seconds, his eyes sharp and critical until he suddenly grinned. "Well then, Tantei-kun, I think I'd like to help."

Conan squinted suspiciously at him in the poor lighting. "…You never told me why _you're_ here," he said, not buying it for an instant.

"Sure I did," KID returned easily. "I'm looking for someone."

"Who?" Conan demanded, and KID was analyzing him again. Conan had to hold back an exasperated sigh at the thief's erratic changes in humor.

"His codename is Snake," KID eventually answered and the words were cautious as he watched for Conan's reaction. "He's been trying to get rid of me for a while now."

"Get rid of you?" Conan's hand came up to his chin out of unconscious habit as he considered that. "Because you're looking for something," he came up with. "And they don't want you to find it."

The look that earned him was somewhere between suspicious and impressed. "Seems we both know a little more than we should. It's something like that," he admitted.

There came the sound of general commotion, loud and chaotic from somewhere down the hallways, and KID grinned, sharp and wicked.

"Well, it's been fun, Tantei-kun, but that's my cue." He stood and gave a cheerful wave. "Try not to get into too much trouble!" There was a large explosion of blue smoke and Conan flinched away on instinct, coughing lightly. KID was gone.

"Dammit," he hissed under his breath, ducking back down as a group of people in lab coats ran past the hallway where he was hidden. He waited for several minutes, listening, but the disruption seemed more distant now and concentrated on one side of the building. The other side, where everyone was running _from,_ seemed quiet. He let out a sigh.

 _I might end up regretting this,_ he thought, and he took off running down the silent halls, away from the commotion. He was careful at first, watching and listening, ready to hide or fight if anyone appeared, but the place seemed suddenly empty.

It didn't take him long to run across a lab labeled Research and Development. He jerked to a stop and stared up at the door standing slightly ajar. Clenching his jaw, he pushed inside.

The counters in the lab were filled with a mess of glass beakers and flasks, burners left on at low flame, and puddles of strong-smelling chemicals bleeding across the surfaces to run into carefully measured piles of powder. He dragged a metal stool over to one of the islands in the middle of the room and climbed up onto it to get a better look. He almost fell off again when he spotted the empty pill casings piled in the middle of the counter.

 _Is… Is this…?_ His hand was reaching out for them before he even realized it, but a distant blast and accompanying rumble toppled him off of the stool. He yelped, taking a fruitless swipe at the counter to try to catch himself before hitting the floor hard, the stool clattering down beside him. He stayed down and covered his head as a few glass containers dropped over the edges of the islands as well and shattered on the tiles around him.

"Wh-What the hell was–?"

Another blast, closer this time, cut him off and he pushed himself to his feet and ran for the door. Thick smoke was already filling the hallway outside and a third explosion knocked him off of his feet.

"Not good," he gritted out, scrambling up again and dashing back into the lab. He squared himself up with the windows and released a soccer ball from his belt, dialed up the power on his shoe, and sent the ball blasting forward, shattering the glass. The ball sailed far into the distance beyond and he was running after it in almost in the same motion as the kick, but it wasn't quick enough. A crashing wave of heat and debris caught him in the back as the opposite wall was blown out, throwing him forward into the concrete wall below the broken windows. He crumpled to the floor, trying desperately to move, but his body would not comply. His eyes were cloudy with smoke, dust, and pain but he caught sight of one blinking red light flashing its silent warning from where it was fixed to the bottom of a lab table.

Everything went black.

.

When Conan woke, it was to cold night air rushing around him with only a faint smell of burning from his own scorched clothes and body. He struggled to open his eyes, lids sticky with cool blood, and saw the clean white and blue of KID's clothes through cracked lenses. KID's hold on him tightened slightly.

"Are you awake, Tantei-kun?"

It took him a few extra moments to process the question, and when he did, he didn't bother answering. His head felt like it was splitting. Another few moments and he realized they were flying, and so took extra care as he twisted in KID's grasp to get a look at the ground below. The compound was an impressive sea of fire.

"What happened?" he croaked.

"I… might have stolen something from the ringleader of this setup, and he _might_ have overreacted when he noticed it was gone."

They touched down, light and silent on a dock nearby, and KID set Conan carefully on his feet. He staggered slightly before finding his balance. "Nn… What… did you steal?" he asked.

"Hey–" KID said, ignoring the question and moving like he wanted to help – like he was worried Conan was about to collapse – but he pulled the motion up short.

"Did you find that guy…? Snake?"

KID's face seemed to be stuck on "worried" but it went unnoticed. Conan's eyes were unfocused and his skin had a distinctly unhealthy grey cast to it.

"No," KID answered, never taking his eyes from the child detective. "He wasn't here, but I did find this." He knelt and pressed a flash drive into Conan's hand, closing small fingers firmly around it. "It's a full analysis of the poison they used on you. There's no sample, but with this you shouldn't need one, right?"

Conan had frozen, eyes suddenly clear, staring down at his and KID's hands until KID let go and left him gazing at the flash drive clutched in his fist. Then he was falling and KID lunged forward, snatching him into his arms before he could hit the ground. He stayed crouched on one knee and ran careful fingers through Conan's hair. The white glove came away blotched with fresh blood and he swore softly under his breath.

A short time later, a shadow lighted silently upon the sidewalk outside of a nearby hospital and ghosted inside with little more than the soft rustle of cloth. A child appeared, laid on a couch in the lobby, then KID disappeared into the night.

.

The next time Conan opened his eyes, he was lying in a hospital bed with bandages on what felt like every inch of him. It took him a good couple of seconds to remember what had happened and to figure out how he'd probably gotten there. Then he remembered the flash drive.

Conan jumped out of the bed and immediately fell to his knees, dizzy from the sudden movement, but the moment his head cleared he was up and running for the chair in the corner where his clothes had been left, cursing his stiff and sore body. He picked through his things quickly, but the flash drive was nowhere to be seen. Not only that – every gadget he'd had on him was gone as well, and while "Conan's" cell phone was there, Shinichi's was gone.

"What…?" he breathed. _What the hell happened?_ He stared down at his clothes for a few seconds more before the creeping sense of loss in the pit of his stomach finally got to him and he slammed his fist into the wall with what little strength he had. _I had it in my hand!_

"Now, now, Tantei-kun, remember, you're injured." Conan whirled at the voice to see KID grinning by the now open window beside his bed. "Glad to see you up and about," he said.

"KID… What happened to–?"

KID produced the flash drive from nowhere at all and tossed it to him. Startled, Conan bobbled it clumsily in bandaged hands.

"I thought it would be safer with me until you woke up," KID said. He proceeded to pull Conan's bowtie, belt, watch, broken glasses, suspenders, cell phone, and Junior Detective badge out of thin air and pile them one after the other on the bed. Conan gave him a questioning look and KID shrugged. "If I found things like this on a kid, I'd be pretty suspicious. As soon as you handle them you can tell they're rigged."

Conan silently agreed. "Thanks," he said.

KID's smile softened unexpectedly. "Good luck, Tantei-kun." Then he vanished through the window.


	2. Chapter 2

**Case 2 – The Antidote**

.

" _There was no trace of him. He wasn't even there. People are saying Mouri Kogoro was at a party that night. He didn't take the bait."_

" _But that thief did. Figures I'd end up doing that fool Snake's job for him."_

"… _He escaped, sir. He's still out there, and it seems he's stealing more jewels than ever."_

" _Tch. Not my problem. Just get everything set for your transfer. We'll be keeping a closer eye on that detective from now on."_

.

The first thing Conan did once he'd been released from the hospital and was able to escape Ran's fussing was go to Agasa's house. He found Haibara working in the lab and walked right up to her, face set with determined purpose, and held the flash drive out. She stared at it for a long time before looking back into his eyes.

"Kudou-kun… What–?"

"It's a complete analysis and breakdown of Apoptoxin 4869."

She didn't take it from him. For too long, she didn't say or do anything at all, and Conan thrust the flash drive forward again in emphasis. "What's wrong with you, Haibara? This is everything we've been missing. Everything you need to make a permanent antidote, right?"

Haibara reached out slowly and took the drive. "Listen," she said. "You know this isn't a guarantee, right? I'm not even one hundred percent sure the program Agasa-hakase wrote to get around the Organization's encryptions is still going to apply. We could lose everything again if they changed it."

"I don't care. It's the closest we've been in ages. We're not going to get anywhere if we don't even try."

"…And if this is a trap?" She met his eyes, her fist clenched around the drive. "How did you even get a hold of this?"

"KID stole it from–"

" _Kaitou KID_?" Haibara spat, incredulous. "You got this from the Kaitou KID? Are you completely stupid? He could be working with them!"

"You're being paranoid," Conan scoffed. "He said he wanted to help–"

Haibara snorted out an indelicate laugh. "I can't believe how naïve you are. He's a _criminal_ , Kudou-kun. And you _know_ he's involved with them. And his disguise abilities…" She thought back to the incident aboard the mystery train with an involuntary shudder. "They're _just_ like Vermouth's. What if he learned from her? Or taught her?" She looked down at the flash drive. "This is too risky. We can't use this–"

"What the hell are you saying?" Conan demanded. "You can't be serious! Yeah, it's a risk, but so what?"

"So I'm trying to stay alive," Haibara said. "This thing could have a tracer program on it that could lead them right to us. I'm not going to–"

"Well if it does then it's too late, because I already loaded it on Agasa-hakase's computer to check it out," Conan said, hoping the response – the lie – had not been too quick. "So you may as well get to work if you want to fix what you did before we die."

Haibara's eyes flashed with anger, but at the same time her face had gone pale. She slammed the drive onto the desk with a sharp _clack_ and jumped down from the chair. "Why are you so obsessed with changing back?!" she shouted at him. "It's not like Mouri-san is waiting for you anymore. She moved on, remember?" A vindictive part of her had meant that to be a low blow – an eye for an eye after the Conan had had the gall to bring up her guilt over turning her parents' miracle drug into a poison – but Conan hardly blinked. He'd struggled with Ran's decision at first, but ultimately couldn't blame her, and had mostly found relief in it. Haibara just pushed ahead, angrier than ever. "Why don't you start looking at this as a good thing?" she demanded. "Do you know how many people would love to be in your position; would _kill_ to be in your position? To have a chance to start over?"

"You can't decide that for me. I don't _want_ this."

"Then I guess you shouldn't have gone sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. Even if this _is_ a full breakdown of the poison, a permanent antidote might not even be possible. But if it is, go ahead and take it. You want to die that badly, be my guest. Just don't drag me down with you." She turned away, hopping back up onto the computer chair and uncapping the flash drive to jam it into a port on her computer.

Conan just rolled his eyes and stalked out of the room. He stopped only a moment on his way out of the house to ask Agasa to tell Ran that was he was staying the night, not bothering to explain, before he headed over to the Kudou manor to spend the night alone.

.

In the days that followed, Conan spent as much time as he could just sitting silently in the lab while Haibara worked. He was slumped on a stool, arms crossed over the counter with his chin resting on top of them, bored out of his mind, when she suddenly spoke.

"Even _you_ have to admit it's suspicious."

Conan sat up. "What?"

"This flash drive," Haibara said. She was still staring at her computer screen, a hand on the mouse and another at the keys as she continued to work. "It's _exactly_ what I need to continue my research. How much did you tell KID about our situation? How did he know to give you this?"

Conan just shrugged, dropping his chin onto his arms again and quelling his irritation to something more like a sulk. _She could at least admit I was right and KID wasn't working with them._ Instead he just said, "KID couldn't have gotten to where he is today if he didn't know how to do a little reconnaissance."

"But _why_?" Haibara insisted, finally spinning her chair around to look at him. "He didn't have any reason to _do_ that reconnaissance."

"Why?" Conan repeated, head coming up again with interest. _I never really thought… It's_ KID. _He always… helps._ He paused then shook the thought away. "How should I know?" he replied, sinking back down onto the counter again.

Haibara watched him for a few seconds more, then silently returned to her work.

.

It was weeks before Haibara managed a formula she was willing to let him try.

"Obviously it hasn't been tested," she warned over the phone. It was the middle of the night, and Conan had crept out into the stairwell outside the detective agency to take her call. "I can't guarantee your safety."

"That's fine," he said, keeping his voice low. "We can test it on me. Then if it works we'll know it's safe for you to try it."

There was a pause. "Kudou-kun, I'm not taking it."

Conan was silent, taken a little by surprise. Really, he'd just assumed she'd do it once it came down to this. Once they had a viable solution in their hands. She'd made her arguments against it, but he could never bring himself to believe that anyone with a choice could actually _want_ this. He just couldn't imagine that.

"There's no reason for me to take it," she went on. "It's safer for me to stay like this – for a lot of reasons – and I'm not losing anything because I've got nothing left to lose." Her explanation was frank, practical and clipped. Conan closed his eyes.

"Right… Look, Haibara… I'm sorry about before–"

"Don't worry about it," she said, brushing him off. "Now, I'm going to insist that you take it _here._ I'm going to want to keep an eye on you, just in case. Understand?"

"Yeah, of course."

.

It took an enormous amount of willpower for Conan not to just drop everything and run to take the antidote, but he knew there was a proper way to do this. "Conan" had become a big part of Ran's life as well as the Junior Detective League's, and just up and disappearing would be a pretty bad move. He'd already seen what that could do to the people left behind and he didn't want to cause that a second time.

It was arranged that Conan would finally be going abroad to be with his parents, and, to be safe, he allowed an extra week after that (during which Conan laid low at Agasa's house) before he would take the antidote and Kudou Shinichi would return, hoping the exchange would not be too obvious. If he'd had his choice, he would have taken the antidote the moment Conan had officially left and spent that week in hiding but at least as himself, but he had given in to Haibara's reasoning that the antidote could still go wrong. It would draw unnecessary suspicion if Kudou Shinichi had to "return" to be hospitalized (or buried, Haibara had helpfully pointed out) the same night Conan had left.

When the time finally, _finally_ arrived, Conan was nearly consumed with nervous excitement. He'd brought clothes that would fit his teenage body over from his house the same night he'd moved out of the Mouris' place, too excited to wait, and gathered them together to meet Haibara outside the bathroom. She placed a single pill into his hand and nodded toward the open door.

"I know how much it hurts. I'll wait right out here. Don't lock the door."

Conan nodded. "Thank you, Haibara. Really."

"Try saying that again after we're sure it worked." Her face was pinched and her arms were folded tightly in front of her, much more tense than the tone of her words let on.

He gave her a reassuring smile but didn't say anything more, heading into the bathroom and closing the door gently behind him.

Conan tossed the extra set of clothes onto the floor and threw the pill into his mouth, swallowing it without a second thought. He had already been shaking slightly from nerves and anticipation and he leaned his back against the door, trying to calm down.

The fever came over him in a matter of minutes and escalated with impossible speed until his brain seemed filled with white heat so intense that his whole body shivered with it. Sweat beaded on his skin and he quickly began shedding the clothes he'd been too eager to discard beforehand like he should have.

He staggered when the first familiar pulse struck, gasping and clutching at his chest even as his limbs began to ache. By the time the second pulse came it was already too much and he crumpled to the floor, curling in on himself as tightly as he could manage, as if he could somehow hold himself together while the antidote ripped him apart.

Even as the aches turned to biting pain, he wondered at the sharpness and speed of it all and hoped that this variation was a sign – a sign that this time would be different. That this time he could finally really stay himself and not turn back because he never wanted to go back, he refused to go back, he absolutely could _not_ go back after coming this close to being himself again, not ever–

Shinichi screamed as he felt the change take over, forcing ten years of growth into ten seconds of blinding white agony, and his heart stuttered painfully in protest. He didn't even have time to acknowledge the result. He passed out, curled up on the floor, welcoming the relief of quiet darkness.

.

Haibara stood with her back pressed to the door, eyes on her watch, listening stoically to the sounds of Conan's… of Shinichi's struggles. It was only a handful of minutes later that she heard him scream, but still she did not react, though she wondered a little at how quickly he'd been driven to that. But then it was silent. Too soon.

"Kudou-kun?" she called tentatively through the door. No response. "…Kudou-kun!" She pounded her tiny fist against the wood, pausing just a moment longer before reaching up for the handle and shoving the door open. Shinichi – the actual, teenaged Kudou Shinichi – was lying on the floor, naked and curled tightly in on himself, pale and thin and out cold. She stopped short in the doorway, shocked at the speed of the transformation, and had to shake herself to get her feet to move.

She rushed to his side and dove to her knees on the cold tiles. " _Kudou-kun,_ " she almost growled, thrusting a hand against his neck and going cold when she did not immediately find a pulse. Taking a deep breath, she tried to still herself, concentrating as she shifted her fingers until she felt a faint throb beneath his fevered skin. "Kudou-kun…" she whispered, clinging to mostly unfounded anger to keep fear from closing in. "Professor!" she shouted over her shoulder at the open door. "Call an ambulance!"

.

The first thing Shinichi did after opening his eyes was roll them. The hospital. Again. Then he heard a quiet gasp and Ran's voice, startlingly close beside him.

"Shinichi!"

"Ran-neechan?" he murmured and his voice sounded incredibly strange to his own ears. He turned his head slowly toward her and saw her cheeks color.

"Sh-Shinichi?" she repeated, nervous now.

Somewhere in Shinichi's mind it abruptly clicked: She was saying his name. _His_ name. Not Conan's. He managed to prop himself up on an elbow and she came up a little out of her chair.

"Are you feeling all right?" she asked, forgetting what she'd thought she'd heard, losing it somewhere in her concern. "You should lie down; I'll get the doctor." She rushed from the room before he could respond.

Shinichi looked down at himself, but it didn't really sink in that this was happening. A small, nervous laugh escaped him. He wasn't quite able to believe it, and he hoped desperately that he would not wake up and find that this was a dream. Again. His mind flinched away from that possibility and he glanced around the room instead, wondering why exactly he was in a hospital. He certainly felt okay even as he pushed himself up to sit back against the pillows.

Ran returned, dragging the doctor behind her and depositing him at Shinichi's bedside before hurrying back to the door. "I'll let Agasa-hakase and everyone know you're awake," she said and added, pausing at the door and smiling with tears in her eyes, "It's good to have you back, Shinichi."

Shinichi inwardly cringed and suddenly wondered how long he'd been there – and what story Haibara and the professor had come up with.

The doctor set down Shinichi's chart and fit a blood pressure cuff onto his arm and Shinichi stayed quiet until he was finished, slipping it off again with a satisfied nod.

"How long have I been here?" he asked as the doctor made a quick notation on the clipboard.

The doctor's eyes flicked over the chart. "Going on two days," he answered, and he said it casually but Shinichi could tell he was watching him closely and with some degree of concern.

"…What happened?" Shinichi tried cautiously.

"Someone, your neighbor I think, found you lying in the street in front of your house. Didn't know how you got there. …You don't remember?"

Shinichi hesitated but decided that _no_ was probably the safest answer for now and shook his head. The doctor sighed.

"Well, you were pretty worn down, but no injuries and you seem to be doing just fine now. The memory loss is a concern though, so I'd like for you to stay overnight to be safe."

"That's fine," Shinichi agreed, seeing no reason not to. It would probably be best to make sure the antidote didn't have any side effects anyway.

The doctor left as Ran, Agasa, Sonoko, and Haibara all piled back into the room with far more snarky comments than warm welcome backs, and Shinichi relaxed just a little because maybe, just maybe, this time was for real.


	3. Chapter 3

**Case 3 – Shinichi's Return**

.

Kaitou KID stood on the rooftop of a skyscraper in Tokyo, staring up at the sky and waiting. The heist had gone without a hitch so far, which was a little disappointing. He swiped a gloved thumb over the facets of the emerald in his pocket. It hadn't contained Pandora, but he hadn't really expected it to. He'd been pulling heists with increasingly blatant frequency ever since his and Conan's misadventure at the Organization compound, hardly checking to see if the targeted jewels fit with the legend he searched for. And he still hadn't seen Edogawa Conan _or_ Kudou Shinichi (and yes, he dared to hope he might show up one of these days) since then.

That was starting to get a little worrying.

Okay, more than a little. Because really, the last time he saw Conan, he'd been hospitalized after getting himself blown up, and then Kaito had handed him information on a _poison_ that was supposed to somehow fix the age predicament the detective had gotten himself into… Kaito sorely hoped he had not somehow ended up handing him his death wrapped in good intentions.

Struck numb at the thought, KID was startled when the door to the roof suddenly banged open behind him, and he whirled around, the wind tugging roughly at his cape. Kudou Shinichi was standing in the doorway.

KID froze. He blinked. Kudou Shinichi was standing in the doorway. Actually, he was leaning. Leaning heavily against the wide open door, panting, sweating, pale and thin and alive and right in front of KID as if to prove that point because this damn annoying detective just couldn't help himself when presented with the opportunity to throw KID's words back in his face, even when KID hadn't said them out loud.

And Kaito was _ecstatic_.

Fortunately, there was plenty of time for KID to collect himself as Shinichi struggled to catch his breath. He drew himself up, a ridiculous grin splashed across his face, and rocked back on his heels, hands in his pockets, as Shinichi finally straightened and stepped away from the door, letting it slam shut behind him. An arrogant smirk crossed his lips, perfectly familiar, and KID's poker face almost wavered.

"Hey, KID."

"So, it really worked," KID said, striding right up to him and putting his hand on Shinichi's shoulder.

Shinichi was about to comment on the strange behavior when he noticed that something in KID's smile was different. "I'm really… really happy for you, Tantei-kun!" he said and Shinichi could hardly believe how genuine he sounded. He realized then that this was less the KID grin and more that the man just couldn't seem to stop beaming. KID laughed suddenly, almost like he'd surprised himself with it as well, and covered his face with one gloved hand for a few moments, still clinging to Shinichi's shoulder.

"KID… Are you all right?" Shinichi found himself asking.

When he lowered his hand, his poker face was back. "I'm always all right, Tantei-kun," he said. "And right now, I am _more_ than all right. I feel like we really… heh, I don't know, like we really finally won one against them, you know?" Just like that, the poker face was gone again, and Shinichi blinked, bemused. This was KID, wasn't it? But he couldn't seem to hold himself together. Still, as what KID was saying really sank in, he found himself grinning too, and relaxing for some reason.

"I never really thanked you, KID," he said, and he held out his hand. KID stared at him, a flicker of surprise crossing his features before another honest smile came over his face. He grasped Shinichi's hand firmly. "Thank you," Shinichi said, and he wasn't sure he'd ever meant those words quite as much as he did now.

"Don't mention it," KID replied. "Hey…" he added as they separated again, KID taking a comfortable step back. "You should come to my heists more often, Tantei-kun. It's more fun when you're here."

Shinichi narrowed his eyes, smirking again. "Are you sure you want that, KID? I'll catch you one of these days. Hell, maybe even tonight." And he knew it was a lie. He had nothing on him. His gadgets were still in the process of being refitted to his larger body and, if he was being honest with himself, he was barely keeping to his feet. His body might have been restored, but it was weak, and it would take him some time to bring himself back up to form.

KID suddenly leaned in, nose to nose with Shinichi, and Shinichi saw a finger wagging at him in his peripheral vision as KID tsked. "We'll just have to see about that, Tantei-kun~!" There was a small pop and a large puff of smoke and KID was somehow across the roof, standing on the ledge. "In the meantime though, you're more than welcome to keep trying!" His fingers touched the brim of his hat as he ducked his head slightly in acknowledgement, KID grin firmly in place, and tipped backward off of the roof. Shinichi pushed himself forward and ran to the edge to watch the glider catch him and carry him off, a brilliant display of fireworks filling the sky with enough light to chase off all the shadows of night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Case 4 – The Accident**

.

Kaito was in a ridiculously good mood by the time he made it home that night, wondering with impish amusement if Shinichi had noticed yet that he'd slipped the emerald into the detective's pocket before he'd jumped from the roof.

Unlocking the door, Kaito entered the small house in Beika where he'd been living for the past few months, and did his usual cautious sweep of the rooms before heading to the secret entrance to the KID room. When his mother had heard of his plans to get an apartment in Beika, he'd half expected all of the usual protests. He'd been a little surprised when her only objection was that renting was simply no good and he needed a place of his own, so she'd helped him finance the little house, and had even helped design and build the secret room. He had just tripped the hidden switch for the entrance when his phone rang.

Kaito paused, a little confused given that it was going on 3AM, and pulled the phone from his pocket. A slight chill rippled through him under his skin. Aoko's name was printed dispassionately across the screen.

When Kaito had decided to move to Beika, he'd told Aoko that it was because he was taking some college courses in the area. That much was true. What he didn't tell her was that he felt he needed some distance. The gap that KID had created between them had always been a little uncomfortable for Kaito, but manageable. That is, until the end of their last year of high school. With graduation looming, Kaito had felt that the time was right to try moving their relationship to a more official status. He'd been in the process of planning a good way to dazzle Aoko with all the not inconsiderable charm he possessed when he suddenly found himself wondering where that would lead, long-term. Every scenario he thought of ended badly. It was at that point he'd made his decision, and while they'd gone their separate ways on friendly terms, he hadn't seen or spoken to Aoko much in months.

And now, in the middle of the night, she was calling him. Something was definitely wrong.

Kaito flicked his thumb over the screen and brought the phone to his ear. He was immediately met with the sounds of poorly subdued distress, and panic clamped cold fingers around his heart.

"K-Kaito?"

"Aoko, are you okay? What happened? Where are you?" The questions spilled out, sharp and quick. He was already locking the KID room shut again and hurrying for his front door.

"I-I'm at home," Aoko said, the words jumping with the spastic gasps that came with hard crying. "S-Someone from the f-force just called. My dad–" She broke off for just a moment and Kaito heard the rush of her breath against the speaker of her phone. His fingers gripped his own so tightly they almost shook and he pressed it harder against his ear as if that would somehow help him take in the words he felt coming. "H-He's in the hospital. There was an accident…"

It took more concentration than it should have to stop his thoughts from reaching his tongue. He had just seen Nakamori at the heist. Everything had been fine. What had happened? "Listen Aoko, I'm going to call my mom. She'll get you over to the hospital. I'm in Beika but I'll be there as soon as I can, all right? It's going to be okay." Aoko shakily agreed and Kaito absolutely hated to end that call, to hang up when she was like that, but she needed to get to the hospital and she was in no state to do that herself. The practicality of it did nothing to ease his frustration.

He was already out the door by the time he'd put the call through to Chikage and he had never been so glad he'd decided to buy and fix up that old car he'd gotten dirt cheap because it had been "beyond repair." Kaito had scoffed at that. It had only taken him a few weeks to teach himself everything he needed to know and have it running again. It had been a fun challenge and those skills would certainly come in handy if he ever had to impersonate a mechanic or hotwire a get-away car or something (unlikely, but it never hurt to be prepared).

Chikage answered after only a few rings and Kaito filled her in in a rush. She listened and agreed, and Kaito felt himself stilled by the calm with which she asked her questions and gave her answers, the efficiency in her responses not dampened by the subtly soothing lilt to her voice.

"I know you're already in the car and driving, Kaito," she added, and he could hear her car door close, a muted background sound. "But you didn't even find out which hospital we're going to, so I want you to pull over and wait for my text to let you know."

And there was that practicality again. He bit back a groan but did as she asked, realizing the logic of it, but why did the practical, reasonable things have to be so damn frustrating? Action was so much easier than waiting around.

.

He recognized the name of the hospital the moment the text came through. It wasn't far from the night's heist location at all. _So,_ Kaito thought, feeling slightly like he'd swallowed a lead weight. _Something must have happened after I left._

There was another text waiting on his phone by the time he got there, informing him where to go within the hospital. He didn't bother stopping at the reception desk and instead slipped past and straight up to the waiting room.

It was in the instant that he ran through the door, the instant that he rushed past Kudou Shinichi and Inspector Megure of the Metropolitan Police Department, Division One, that he fully acknowledged that there was more to this "accident" than might first meet the eye. Kaito shoved the thought forcefully aside for the time being as he reached Aoko and Chikage.

Shinichi, sitting in a chair near the entrance to the waiting room, barely holding himself up with his elbows propped on his knees, had seen the young man run past, but hadn't thought much of it until he heard his voice. His head came up, turning instinctively toward the small cluster of people on the other side of the otherwise empty waiting room.

"Aoko…" Kaito took hold of Aoko's shoulders and guided her gently but insistently into a seat, though she tried to resist. He could see that she was full of nervous energy, but as soon as he managed to get her into a chair, she stilled, folding against him, his hand squeezed tight in hers and her face against his shoulder. "Hey," he said, pitching his tone to be cheerful but still quiet and subdued. "Everything's gonna be okay, you'll see." He ran a light hand over her wild hair and looked up at Chikage. "Has anyone let Hakuba know?" He might hate the bastard, but he was sure Hakuba would want to be told about this. Kaito had heard that Hakuba and Aoko had grown much closer in the past few months, but he also knew that Hakuba had been in England for the past week and a half.

Chikage looked down at Aoko, who was making a valiant effort to stop the small residual sobs that were still jumping through her every now and then, and told Kaito softly, "Stay with Aoko-chan. I'll give him a call." Kaito nodded and, with a quick hand, stole the cell phone from Aoko's pocket, handing it over to Chikage without a word. Chikage stepped out of the waiting room, already scrolling through Aoko's contacts to find the number.

From across the room, Shinichi stared. He hadn't missed the effortless theft, and even though the young man's face was unclear, his head bent low over the girl hunched against his side, Shinichi couldn't help the growing suspicion that this person comforting the head of the KID task force's daughter in soft, soothing tones was the Kaitou KID. Or maybe that was the exhaustion talking.

Shinichi actually started when Kaito suddenly looked up, meeting Shinichi's eyes. For a few moments they just stared at each other, Kaito's face held carefully blank across from Shinichi's bewildered expression. Then, abruptly, Shinichi realized what had made Kaito look up in the first place. Megure was trying to get Shinichi's attention. He'd probably said his name several times by now if the worried edge to his voice was any indication, and Shinichi hadn't even heard him. He quickly tore his eyes away from Kaito's and looked up at Megure.

"Sorry, Inspector," he said, and the words were heavy with exhaustion.

"Are you sure you're all right, Kudou-kun?" Megure asked. "You only just got out of the hospital. You should probably be taking it easy."

Shinichi caught a sharp movement out of the corner of his eye – the young man's head had come up abruptly again, almost as if in response to the inspector's words. Like he'd been startled to hear that Shinichi had been in the hospital. But why would he care? He was fairly certain they'd never met… unless this guy really was KID–

"Kudou-kun…"

Shinichi had been staring again and Megure's voice, when it reached him, sounded tortured with concern. The inspector's hand landed heavy on Shinichi's shoulder. "Maybe while we're here we should get you checked out. You don't look well."

Shinichi laughed humorlessly. If he looked half as bad as he felt he was pretty sure he could understand why Megure was worried. "I'll be fine," he said anyway. And he did actually believe that. Really, he just needed some coffee.

.

The hospital coffee was especially bitter and Shinichi was grateful; it woke him up nicely, even if it did nothing for the tremors in his hands. He'd gone through five cups in the hour between when Kaito had arrived and when the doctor had come out with news on Nakamori. Aoko had finally been allowed back to see him, Chikage had already gone home, and Megure had gone out into the hallway to talk to the doctor, leaving Kaito and Shinichi alone in the waiting room.

Kaito was slumped in one of the chairs, pretending to be deeply engrossed in his phone while he watched Shinichi, counting cups of coffee as the detective sat stooped over a folder full of photos that an officer had brought in earlier. Honestly, he had been expecting Shinichi to confront him. It was obvious he had his suspicions, but Shinichi never looked up from his work. Kaito let out a silent sigh, wondering if it would be stupid to ask him about the accident. He wanted to know. He _needed_ to know what had happened, but he wasn't sure he should push his luck… Or maybe he should think of this as an opportunity for damage control. After all, he hadn't done anything all that damning. So Shinichi was suspicious of him. So what? Hakuba was _convinced_ that he was KID and nothing had come of that.

He was standing before he'd consciously made the decision, and he walked out of the waiting room. Shinichi hardly even looked up.

.

Shinichi picked up his seventh cup of coffee – empty, just like it had been the last time he'd picked it up, but he had forgotten again and he wasn't sure he wanted to expend the effort to stand so he could go get more. Then a hand came down in his line of vision and deposited a full, steaming cup of black coffee right in front of him. It took him a second to look up.

"Hey," Kaito said, taking care to adjust his voice very subtly to a lower register than his normal tone. With any luck, the detective would assume anything he'd heard earlier he'd just imagined as sounding like KID. Kaito had even gone so far as to make slight changes to his bone structure and skin tone with makeup before he'd gone to get the coffee. From the look on Shinichi's face, he'd succeeded in instilling at least a little bit of doubt in his mind. After all, he definitely seemed tired enough to start questioning his own observations. Kaito almost felt bad about that, but only because Shinichi looked like he might drop any minute, yet he was still working to find out what had happened to Nakamori.

Shinichi blinked up at him. "Hey…?" he responded slowly. Carefully. Like he was afraid he might be talking to a hallucination.

"You're looking into the accident, aren't you," Kaito said, sharp eyes flickering over the spread of photos on the low table in front of him. "Do you know what happened?"

"Hit and run," Shinichi answered. "Literally," he added as an afterthought, and he was pretty sure he shouldn't be telling this random person about the case, but it was so much easier to think out loud at this point that he didn't bother stopping himself. "Another car smashed right into Nakamori-keibu's door, but I swear the angle is off, and the driver got out and literally ran away – just disappeared somewhere. We had people out looking for 'em but turned up nothing and that's weird too."

"You don't think it was an accident," Kaito stated. Shinichi shook his head, looking grim. "Any thoughts on motive?"

Tired eyes moved up to lock on Kaito's face again and lingered there, like he knew something wasn't quite right. "You're concerned about him," Shinichi observed.

"Aoko's a friend," Kaito answered vaguely but Shinichi only nodded.

They both looked up when Megure came back into the room, Shinichi watching the inspector expectantly, but Megure only shook his head. Shinichi slumped back in his chair and sighed. They'd been hoping Nakamori could tell them something more about what had happened, but he either wasn't awake or didn't remember. Megure came over to the table.

"Kudou-kun–"

"I know, Inspector," Shinichi said. "I'll call it a night. Let me know if anything changes."

Megure nodded and Shinichi gathered the report and pictures together before forcing himself to stand. He handed the folder over to Megure and headed for the door, lifting the full coffee cup slightly in Kaito's direction as he went.

"Thanks for this," he said.

"…Anytime," Kaito replied, watching in slight bewilderment as Shinichi left the waiting room.

.

Kaito lingered in the waiting room for a while longer before the doctor returned to gently inform him that Aoko was not leaving and that Kaito couldn't go in to see Nakamori, so he might as well head home and get some rest. Kaito agreed, reluctantly, and headed out to the parking lot, but only because something had been quietly churning at the back of his mind ever since Shinichi had left. How had he gotten home? He'd been alone the whole time in the waiting room and he hadn't called anyone before he left… Had he headed home alone?

It was an uncomfortable conclusion for Kaito to come to, but one that seemed to fit with the stubbornly independent detective. And Kaito didn't like it. Not only was Shinichi in no shape to be making his own way home, there was still someone out there who had just tried to kill Nakamori. If they decided they wanted Shinichi out of the way as well… Kaito's hand twitched and he slammed his car door with more force than was strictly necessary. Making up his mind, he started the car and headed out toward the Kudou manor.

.

Kaito left his car a few blocks away just to be safe then scaled the tree in Shinichi's yard that overlooked his bedroom window on the second floor. He peered in through the open curtains and his grip on the branch beneath him tensed. The bed was empty. Not only that – it was untouched, the blankets spread perfectly neat and smooth over the mattress. Surely, _surely_ not even Kudou Shinichi would have come home after a night like the one he'd just had and not gone to bed. So had he even made it back at all?

Six seconds later, Kaitou KID was moving silently toward the door in Shinichi's bedroom and out into the rest of the house, his cape licking around corners after him. A quick search showed the second floor to be empty and he hurried down to check the first, but he stopped short at the bottom of the stairs, a chill rising through him for just a moment when he saw Shinichi. He was slumped in the corner just inside his front door, eyes closed, quiet and unmoving, and KID's feet were carrying him forward before he could tell them to move. His last step rolled smoothly into a dip as he took a knee in front of Shinichi, his hand reaching out in almost the same movement to check for a pulse at Shinichi's neck. A sigh of relief left him as he found one, slow and steady under his glove.

Having confirmed that the detective was not, in fact, dead, KID took a quick look around at where Shinichi was sitting. The key to his door was on the floor beside his hand, and, though the front door was closed, it hadn't been locked behind him. Slightly concerned, KID edged closer and ran light, careful fingers through Shinichi's hair and down the sides of his face, checking for injuries, but there were none. It seemed as though he had simply sunk down to the floor and fallen asleep as soon as he got in. Recalling how he'd looked at the hospital, and the eight or so cups of coffee Kaito had watched him drink within the span of ninety minutes, he supposed he shouldn't be too surprised. Clearly he was exhausted if KID's careful poking and prodding had hardly caused him to stir.

KID breathed out a small sigh and reached up to lock the door, then carefully gathered Shinichi into his arms and carried him to the sitting room, trying not to notice how little he seemed to weigh or how thin he felt. He laid him on the couch and stepped away but hesitated a moment, going to retrieve a blanket as an afterthought and returning to lay it over the sleeping detective. He was a _gentleman_ thief after all, and really he felt like he owed Shinichi at least that much for his help with Nakamori's case.

Returning to the open window upstairs, Kaito changed back into street clothes and slipped out of the darkened house into the early morning sunlight and headed home.


	5. Chapter 5

**Case 5 – The Task Force**

.

The next heist was to take place just two days later, but Kaito had only set it up to try to boost Nakamori's spirits – for Aoko's sake as much as for the inspector's. He was still stuck in the hospital, his right arm broken along with a few of his ribs, and some heavy bruising and minor cuts all over his body, but he was recovering. Aoko spent every moment she could at the hospital as well, fussing and worrying and crying and smiling in equal parts by that point.

Kaito visited when he could, but he made certain he was there when Nakamori found out about the heist notice, and he grinned, wildly smug, when both Nakamori and Aoko flew into identical fits of outrage and proceeded to engage in an energetic discussion of everything awful about KID. For once, he didn't mind as they tore apart his alter ego, and he offered token arguments against their claims in order to keep it going, because for the first time in days the two of them actually looked alive.

Hakuba found out about the heist shortly after. He'd flown back early from England after Chikage had given him the news of Nakamori's "accident" and was spending all of his free time at the hospital as well, which Nakamori seemed resigned to, if nothing else. It was painfully obvious how much happier Aoko was when he was there, so neither Kaito nor Nakamori commented on it. However, when Hakuba brought up the notice, Nakamori suddenly thought it would be a very good idea for Hakuba to stay and keep Aoko company rather than go to the heist.

At first, Kaito had been amused by this, thinking that Nakamori didn't want the young British upstart of a detective to have a chance to catch KID before he could, but Nakamori's insistence seemed just a little too urgent for that. Like maybe, underneath somewhere, he was concerned that something might happen to Hakuba if he went to the heist. Kaito shook off the thought. He was probably imagining it. While Shinichi _had_ proven that the hit-and-run had been no accident, there was still no evidence saying Nakamori was targeted because of his involvement with the heist.

The identity of the culprit and their motives were still entirely unknown.

.

Attending a heist in open cooperation with the Kaitou KID task force was certainly a different experience. Normally Shinichi would leave the officers to their scheming and move on his own, but his goal at this particular heist was less to catch KID and more to see if there were any clues to be gained concerning the attack on Nakamori. So, a few minutes to the heist's appointed time, Shinichi was standing around with the assembled task force members as their new temporary leader, Inspector Yasuda, called them all to attention.

Shinichi glanced over the man as he stepped up onto one of the many chairs that were stacked in the corner of the large and mostly empty ballroom where they'd set up their base of operations for that night. He was tall and thin in his peach-tinged suit, light brown hair just missing his shoulders as it hung stick-straight on either side of a completely unfamiliar face.

"All right, officers, are you all ready?" he called out over the small assembly. "Let's make Nakamori-keibu proud! We'll catch that no-good thief and deliver him as a get-well present, right?!" He punctuated the question by thrusting a fist into the air and a chorus of agreement rang out all around. Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"Now, that being said," Yasuda continued, sobering though his voice still carried, strong and intense. "We have been given special dispensation for the use of full force and any means necessary to catch KID once and for all, so I want to see each and every one of you readily armed. He's _not_ getting away this time."

" _What?_ " Shinichi blurted out, and he realized that he was not the only one who had let slip an outcry of protest. The task force was looking displeased.

"KID is _consistently_ non-violent; how could you possibly have gotten permission for something like that?" one of them demanded above the murmurings of the others, and his question was met with general sounds of agreement.

Still on the chair, Yasuda raised his hands, placating, and said in a low tone, "I know." His eyes were on the floor and regret was a bitter tinge in his voice. He looked up. "But we can't assume that anymore. I'm sure you've all heard by now that the incident with Nakamori-keibu was no accident. Right now, KID is the most likely suspect in that crime and–"

Another swell of objection drowned the rest of his sentence.

"KID would never do that!" someone shouted.

"There's no way that's true!"

Shinichi looked around, amazed at the support KID was receiving from the very task force that was hell-bent on throwing him in jail. He felt a little grateful toward them. After all, he agreed wholeheartedly. There was just no way KID would do something like that.

"Excuse me, Inspector," Shinichi said, stepping forward, his hand half raised to draw the inspector's attention. "I worked that case. There was no evidence at all that pointed to KID."

Yasuda's eyes raked over Shinichi, critical and slightly confused. "Who are you?"

"Kudou Shinichi, sir. I consult with Division One of the MPD under Megure-keibu."

There was a subtle widening to Yasuda's eyes as he stared at Shinichi, but it passed quickly. "Division One, huh?" he said. "So what are you doing _here_?"

"Filling in for Hakuba-kun," Shinichi said with a smirk, not missing a beat. He knew Hakuba had already returned from England but he wasn't sure why he hadn't come to this particular heist. But that didn't matter. It was just a convenient lie.

Yasuda considered him for another moment or two before he shrugged. "If you think you can help, I'll take all the hands I can get, but I do _not_ want to see _you_ with a gun, you got that?" he said firmly. "How old are you anyway? Sixteen?"

"Eighteen," Shinichi replied, not taking offense. He knew he still looked a little scrawny from his return, but he was building his strength back up quickly now and he doubted it would be much longer before he felt back to normal. "And I don't think you should have a gun here either, Inspector. Just saying."

That earned him a glare, quick and sharp and unnoticed by the rest of the officers because at that moment the lights in the room dimmed then flickered and everyone froze, looking around for KID or one of his tricks to appear. The lights brightened again and stabilized and nothing happened.

"Nothing unusual on the cameras," one of the task force reported, hunched over the monitors set up on one side of the room. "The brooch is still there."

Over the radios on the officers standing near Shinichi, he heard the few task force members actually in the room with the gem confirm the report and give a password to prove their identities.

"All right, it's time!" Yasuda shouted above the heads of the officers. "Everyone to your assigned positions. Those of you on the roof, be extra cautious. Watch those doors and don't trust a single lock – they're all good as useless. Let's move!"

Everyone scattered, pouring out of the room until only Shinichi and Yasuda were left. "Well?" Yasuda said, stepping down from the chair. "You going to help or are you just gonna get in the way?" He started for one of the doors but paused when Shinichi breathed out a light laugh. Turning back to him, Yasuda watched suspiciously as Shinichi smirked and headed over to the wall.

"You mean you haven't noticed yet? The dimensions of this room are off."

"…What are you talking about?" Yasuda asked slowly. "I studied the blueprints of the building; it's fine."

"Check again, Inspector," Shinichi said, smugness edging his tone. "You're on the wrong floor."

"What?"

"KID got you. The floor above, where they're watching the brooch? It's a fake. The real one – the real display room _and_ the real brooch – is in here." He shoved his shoulder against a section of the wall and a door broke free, swinging open before him. He was not the least bit surprised to see KID standing in the darkened room just beyond, grinning with his hands in his pockets like he'd been waiting there for Shinichi to find him. The display case of the Sleeping Flower just behind him was empty.

"Good evening, Tantei-kun," KID said. "Who's your new friend?"

"I'm sure you know damn well who he is by now, KID," Shinichi replied easily, still smirking, and KID conceded the point with a smile and a shrug.

"Come out of there!"

Shinichi turned at the sharp demand and froze. Yasuda was standing a few paces away, his gun out and aimed and ready.

It only took Shinichi a second to work himself loose of the initial shock and he raised his hands carefully to the level of his chest. "Inspector–" he started, his voice calm, but then he was being drawn smoothly back, out of the doorway and into the display room as KID stepped in front of him, taking his place.

"Yasuda-keibu," KID said warmly, and the smile on his face was not the KID grin. It was something softer that hid a dangerous, hot anger that Yasuda could see in KID's eyes and that made his hand twitch around the gun. "What are you really trying to do here?"

"Catch you, of course," the inspector replied with a smile of his own and Shinichi heard a high _ping_ and a deafening gunshot, one immediately following the other. His body folded down on instinct even as he lunged away from the doorway and behind the wall. When he looked again, KID was gone.

Keeping his back braced against the wall, Shinichi chanced a look through the doorway. Yasuda was staring, slightly confused, at the bullet hole in the wall to the right of where he'd aimed and Shinichi was glad he'd dodged to Yasuda's left, though he doubted it was coincidence that the shot had veered in the opposite direction. Then KID reappeared suddenly and Yasuda's gun was no longer in his hand. Instead it was dangling off of KID's finger by the trigger guard as he leaned his shoulder casually against his fake wall. Shinichi stepped back out into the ballroom and stood beside him.

"You know," KID said, sharp eyes fixed on Yasuda. "I don't think I like how you run things, Inspector. I'll have to lodge a complaint with the head of your department." He removed the bullets from the gun – effortlessly, Shinichi noted – and vanished both the gun and the magazine with a flourish. There came the sounds of stomping, hurried footsteps and a half dozen task force members ran through each of the doors on either side of the room. They gathered together behind Yasuda and every one of them was searching hands for the source of the gunshot moments earlier, but no one was holding a gun.

"What are you waiting for?" Yasuda called, arm lashing out in a sharp arc to point at KID. "Let's get him!"

Seeing nothing wrong with this plan, the officers surged forward and Shinichi barely had time to remove himself from KID's immediate vicinity. KID's trademark grin reappeared.

In the resulting chaos of the task force's efforts and KID's lighthearted countermeasures, no one saw Yasuda draw another, previously concealed gun. No one saw his face change, his eyes sharpen to those of a hunter. No one saw him take aim into the midst of the chaos without a care for who got between him and KID.

No one except Shinichi.

"Get down!" Shinichi shouted, and KID's head jerked up to see Yasuda with his finger on the trigger and Shinichi running full tilt at the man, but KID could also see that Shinichi would make it a second too late. He grabbed hold of the two officers standing directly in front of him and dove to the floor, dragging them down with him as another shot went off, the bullet passing over them and through the fake wall to shatter a display case on the other side. Shinichi collided with Yasuda a moment later and both of them hit the floor hard.

Yasuda was gasping, trying to reclaim the air that had been knocked from his lungs, but he struggled, wrenching and writhing under Shinichi as Shinichi attempted to pry his fingers from the gun. A wild swing caught Shinichi on the side of the head and his grip on Yasuda slipped just long enough. The gun went off, setting off a chain reaction, a tumble of sound and motion.

"No!" KID's voice blended with the crack of the gunshot. The crisp whisper of the card from his gun was swallowed by a startled gasp from an officer facing Yasuda. Metal collided with metal and sang out as the bullet and the card both clinked against the polished floor, and her knees almost buckled but she caught herself on the supporting arm of a fellow officer and let out a sharp breath of startled relief.

Shinichi's fingers scrambled over the gun, engaging the safety, and a moment later he managed to wrench it from Yasuda's grasp and send it skittering across the tiles. He made a grab for the handcuffs on Yasuda's belt but was suddenly thrown back, hitting the ground hard as Yasuda scrambled to his feet and bolted for the stairs. Without a second thought, Shinichi pushed himself back up and ran after him, and KID vanished as well, leaving the task force stunned and uncertain of what exactly was going on.

The lights in the stairwell were all dead but Shinichi raced downward after the sound of Yasuda's harsh footsteps. Rounding the corner of the last landing, Shinichi spotted a glow ahead of him and realized that Yasuda had pulled out his phone. He pushed himself forward and burst through the door into the darkened lobby after him, but pulled up short when he saw Yasuda standing still several paces ahead of him, facing him and holding up the phone, the screen toward Shinichi.

Shinichi drew in fast, shallow breaths as his eyes moved over the man, taking everything in but still not understanding why he had stopped.

"I wonder, Kudou Shinichi," Yasuda said slowly, and there was a smugness in his voice that Shinichi definitely did not like. "How would that bastard Gin like to know exactly where you are and what you've been up to lately?" His finger was hovering over a "send" icon on an open message. "Consulting with the MPD, Division One… Isn't that right?"

Shinichi froze, his vision swimming for just a moment before he remembered to breathe. He'd continued to keep his name out of any kind of public press or media, and he didn't figure Gin would be asking around about him since he thought Shinichi was dead, but this… this could be very, very bad. He shifted his weight slightly away from Yasuda, trying to settle into a self-assured stance as his heart raced frantically. "What do you want from me?" he asked, and he managed to sound calm and collected.

"You're going to catch KID for me."

The surprise was enough to knock the edge off of the fear. "What?" Shinichi managed.

"You're obviously better suited to it than anyone else here," Yasuda explained with an air of innocent patience. "That person wants KID taken care of, and I think you don't want to see everyone around you made into a target while you spend the last of your numbered days looking over your shoulder, so you're going to do as I say and let me walk out of here, then deliver the Kaitou KID to me in one week."

"You're psychotic," Shinichi said flatly and he wondered if he was losing his mind because he actually wanted to laugh. "I can't catch KID," he said. " _No_ one can _catch KID_."

"Aw, I'm flattered, Tantei-kun. Really."

Shinichi couldn't stop the sudden heat rising to his face, leaving his cheeks flushed; he could only hope the darkness of the room would make it less noticeable. KID was _not_ meant to hear that. But really, he reflected, he should have seen it coming.

KID was standing immediately behind Yasuda and already the phone was in his hand. He quickly blacked out the touch screen before anything could accidentally be pressed and stepped around to face the false inspector, his body taut and ready like a drawn bowstring though his voice remained casual. "He's right, you know," he said with a smirk.

"That's fine," Yasuda replied, not giving an inch. "I'd just as soon see you dead. That person doesn't particularly care which it is."

A familiar _bamph_ sounded behind KID and he ducked almost out of pure reflex just before a soccer ball connected solidly with Yasuda's forehead. The man hit the floor and stayed down as the ball bounced off and rolled away into a corner. KID looked up as Shinichi moved past him to crouch beside Yasuda, quickly removing a third gun from under the man's suit jacket. He dropped the magazine out of it into his waiting hand, sent it across the floor in one direction, the gun in the other, and checked Yasuda over for any other weapons. Then he rolled Yasuda onto his stomach and locked his wrists behind his back with his own handcuffs.

"You knew he was still armed," KID observed, straightening up.

Shinichi stood and unconsciously brought his hand to the side of his head, flinching slightly at what would probably be a bruise tomorrow. "I guessed," he said, calm and casual. "He looked like he was resisting the urge to shoot me the whole time he was threatening to send that message." He turned and held his hand out to KID. "Give me his phone."

KID hesitated for only a moment before handing it over. "If the only thing keeping him from shooting you was the deal he wanted to make, why did you turn him down?"

"What, you thought I'd take that deal?" Shinichi scoffed. "I would never hand you over to them, even in exchange for my own safety."

KID blinked at him, feeling his face start to warm and what the _hell_ he was actually _blushing_ and that was _not_ acceptable behavior in uniform. Fortunately, Shinichi was too busy glaring down at Yasuda to notice. KID took in a long, silent breath, not letting his shoulders move with it, and got himself back in hand. "That's assuming you _could_ catch me, of course," he said, shrugging. "And I think we've already established that no one can do that."

Shinichi looked up abruptly, his own blush just visible in the light through the glass doors at the front of the lobby. KID smiled.

"Still," he said. "Thank you, Tantei-kun. Here…" He tossed the Sleeping Flower over to Shinichi who caught it one-handed, giving KID a questioning look.

"Not the one, huh," he said.

"Why don't you check it for me."

Shinichi hesitated, watching KID for some sign of what he was trying to do, but, as was to be expected, KID gave nothing away. Shinichi gave up, turning and heading over to the doors to hold the brooch up in a ray of moonlight. "What am I looking for?" he asked after a few moments. When he received no answer he glanced over his shoulder, but KID was gone. Shinichi let out a quiet sigh, rolling his eyes, and looked back at the smooth amber stone in the moonlight for a few moments more before shaking his head and pocketing Yasuda's phone as the task force started to emerge from the stairwell.

Hidden in the darker shadows of the lobby, KID watched Shinichi examine the gem in the moonlight and smiled. It was, he decided, an image that he definitely liked, and this time he made an exception for the slight flush that came to his cheeks at the thought.

.

Nakamori was absolutely livid.

Shinichi was actually grateful that the man was confined to a hospital bed because the colors he was turning could not have been healthy – better that medical staff be close at hand just in case.

When the KID task force had asked that Shinichi come along with them to fill the inspector in on everything that had happened, he'd agreed only because a lot of them weren't around for the important parts and he didn't want anyone to be misinformed. He was actually surprised when he heard that, just before the heist had started, a projection of an enormous KID doodle had been splashed across a hotel a few buildings away. A hotel that just _happened_ to be in direct and unobstructed view of Nakamori's hospital room window. On second thought, it wasn't all that surprising.

Also unsurprising, though the task force had certainly not seen it coming, was the fact that Nakamori recognized the man who had stood in for him to lead the task force. One of the officers had sent him the report from the heist, complete with mug shots of the false inspector, and that was when the colors started, washing over Nakamori's face in waves as his team informed him of all that had occurred.

"This is the guy," Nakamori said, cutting off whoever was talking as he flipped through the report on his tablet. His voice was quiet at first, but as he stared down at Yasuda's face, his jaw worked and he finally barked out, "This is the guy! I remember now! He came clear out of nowhere and smashed into my car and then he got out and glared at me and said that KID was his and to stay out of his way!" The room fell momentarily silent as Nakamori flipped frantically back through the report.

"And he… _He_ led the task force?!" he roared. "He wanted me out of the way so he could take over and, what? _Shoot_ KID?"

"I don't think he particularly cared _who_ he shot," one of the officers muttered – Amane Hisayo, the one KID had saved by shooting the stray bullet out of the air in front of her.

" _What?_ " Nakamori demanded.

"He was definitely targeting KID, we know that much," Shinichi supplied, stepping in to clarify. "But he also didn't seem to care who got in his way. He aimed at me before KID pulled me back, and he shot into the crowd of officers around KID after KID stole his first gun."

No one missed how Nakamori's eyes jumped around the room, noting individual faces. The question didn't even make it to his lips before Shinichi answered it.

"No one got hurt," he said. "KID protected them. That's his rule, after all."

Nakamori visibly relaxed and Aoko laid a comforting hand on his arm, subtle and quiet.

"Kudou-kun got the second gun away from him and he and KID chased him down and caught him in the lobby," another officer finished.

"And the Sleeping Flower?"

"Uh…"

"KID gave it back," Shinichi answered. "It hardly even left the building."

"But he _did_ take it," Nakamori grumbled. He took a deep breath, only wincing a little at the pain from his injured ribs, and announced, "He won't get off so easy next time! Just you wait, Kaitou KID, I'll be out of this hospital in no time and then you better watch out!"

The task force let out a cheer and Shinichi smiled and slipped out of the room as they began an enthusiastic discussion of KID-catching strategy.

Some things never changed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Case 6 – Puzzle**

.

There wasn't a force on Earth that could stop Nakamori Ginzo from attending a KID heist when he was determined to do so, but Aoko liked to think she'd at least come close. The inspector had been released from the hospital a week before the notice came, and so, on the specified night, arm in a cast and crutch at his side, Nakamori and his task force made the trek to Beika where the heist was to occur. Aoko, having done her best to talk him into sitting this one out but utterly failing in the end, had gone with him. If he insisted on being there, that was one thing, but damned if she'd let him go running around after KID and get himself hurt. Nakamori found himself practically manhandled into a chair in front of a wall of security monitors on the first floor of the Beika Art Museum with a headset and radio pressed into his hands and Aoko standing over him glaring a fierce warning that needed no vocalized threat.

Hakuba arrived shortly after, making his slow struggle through the mob of KID fans already gathered around the building. He broke free of them at the police line holding them back and slipped through with a polite hello and a nod to the officers guarding the doors.

He'd barely set foot in the lobby when Aoko collided with him. He caught her arms quickly and steadied her even as she scrambled to take a step back, apologizing somewhat frantically as she did. It took her a moment to realize who she'd run into.

"Oh, Hakuba-kun, thank goodness," she breathed. "My dad ran off somewhere; you've got to help me find him before he gets himself hurt!"

"Of course," Hakuba answered immediately. "Did he say anything before he left?"

Aoko shook her head. "I was going to check outside but– Oh! Wait! He did say something. He was talking about the pottery exhibit on the way over here!"

"That is on the third floor," Hakuba said. He'd long since memorized the layout in preparation for the heist. "This way."

They ran to the elevators and a cheery _ding_ announced the car's arrival. Hurrying inside, Aoko jabbed the button for the third floor and was all but bouncing with nervous energy as the doors slid slowly closed.

"Do not worry," Hakuba said, his voice smooth and reassuring. "I am sure he is all right–" A quiet hissing jerked his attention around to the back corner of the elevator where pink gas was pouring in from the ceiling. He whipped back around, already reaching for the control panel, but Aoko was standing in front of it… and she was wearing a gasmask. Hakuba stopped short, staring at the manic grin he could just see in her… _his_ eyes.

"KID…" Hakuba managed even as his head grew fuzzy and his legs folded under him. KID caught him as he fell and the last thing Hakuba was conscious of was that damn cheerful _ding_ of the elevator as it arrived at the third floor. Then everything went black.

.

KID had already tampered with the elevator earlier in the day, so when it arrived the doors did not open and he could remain inside where the security feed only showed an empty car to take his time switching his disguise. When he was done, he wiped the fingerprint from the button for the third floor, then leaned over Hakuba to add a finishing touch before slipping easily up through the emergency access panel in the roof of the car and disappearing into the elevator shaft.

.

When Shinichi arrived at the security control room, Hakuba was there, chatting with Aoko as she stood guard over her father. Shinichi paused, watching them for a few moments before stepping farther into the room and making his presence known. "Good to see you out of the hospital, Nakamori-keibu," he greeted. "How are you feeling?"

"Well enough to not be stuck on surveillance," Nakamori muttered, hunched forward in his chair with his chin in his good hand, staring glumly at the monitors. The comment earned him a light smack to the middle of his back that was enough to make him cringe.

"Not a chance," Aoko stated.

"Hey, Hakuba-kun, the heist is starting pretty soon, right?" Shinichi commented.

Hakuba straightened up from where he'd been examining one of the security screens and turned to him, checking his watch. "It is now three minutes, twenty-seven seconds, and eighteen milliseconds to the time KID specified in the notice," he replied with all his usual precision. Shinichi just nodded thoughtfully and Hakuba turned back to the wall of monitors. There was a soft jingle and a click.

"K-Kudou-kun!" Nakamori stammered.

Shinichi was standing close behind Hakuba, a tight grip on Hakuba's wrist above where a pair of handcuffs now locked his hands behind his back. "Good try, KID," Shinichi said. "But not your best effort."

"Hakuba" glanced back over his shoulder and grinned – a disturbing thing – and KID's voice asked, "What gave me away?"

"Hakuba-kun doesn't mess around at KID heists," Shinichi explained. "He wouldn't be socializing so close before the start."

"Ah, but if he were here to check the security footage–"

"Sure," Shinichi said, smug and smiling. "But you didn't get interested in the screens until I showed up."

The grin on KID's false face somehow managed to grow. Then he turned sharply, and neatly sidestepped out of Shinichi's reach. He gave a deep bow, one arm sweeping out with the motion, and Shinichi was baffled to see that the handcuffs were already gone. "Well played, Tantei-kun," he said. "Then I suppose it's time we got started!"

Shinichi lunged forward, but the flash bomb went off before he could take more than a step. He squeezed his eyes shut, turning away on instinct and throwing his arm up to shield his face. It was over in seconds, and he looked around. KID, of course, was gone, but he'd left something behind – the handcuffs Shinichi had used on him were now locking Nakamori's wrist to his armrest. Aoko was clutching his shoulders around the back of the chair, blinking hard at the spots in her vision, and Shinichi suspected that that was the only thing _really_ keeping him in his seat. He looked furious.

There was ringing silence in the room for just a moment before the reports started flooding in on Nakamori's radio. Shinichi shifted closer to listen.

" _KID's been sighted! He's flying in toward the roof!"_

" _What? No! He's in the gallery!"_

" _KID sighted in the north stairwell. Two officers in pursuit. Requesting backup."_

The rest of the voices blurred together in chaotic confusion as they disputed each other's claims, and Shinichi took off, sprinting from the control room.

 _Best guess,_ he thought as he ran. _The one on the roof is a decoy, and the report for the gallery is KID faking them out with a false report._ He took the corner at full speed, sliding just a little on the tiled floor, and bolted through the door to the north stairwell, taking the steps two at a time just because he could. He paused for a moment on the landing at the second floor when he heard two officers shouting and pounding on the other side of the stairwell access door. His eyes took in the small black electronic device fixed near the handle, and the note taped next to it with the KID doodle drawn at the bottom, but he didn't stop to read it. Ignoring the officers' calls, he bounded up the next flight just in time to see KID cut out of the stairwell a floor above him. _The fourth floor,_ Shinichi thought. _A floor too early. The diamond is on the fifth._ He shrugged it off and continued upwards. KID had never been fond of conventional means of entry. He was probably planning to enter the fifth floor in some other way, and Shinichi intended to be there when he did.

Passing the fourth floor by, Shinichi paused for just a second to catch his breath then slipped out of the stairwell into the fifth floor exhibit room. He stopped short just inside the door. It was dead silent and completely empty of people. He knew for a fact that several officers were meant to be up here guarding the night's target, but they all seemed to be missing.

Senses pulled tight by the resonating silence, Shinichi made his way carefully toward the center of the exhibit where an enormous dragon made of sculpted, colored glass stood on a wide pedestal. A huge, bright white diamond was set in its back between large but elegantly curved wings, positioned as though they had burst forth from the stone. He circled the statue once, checking for any tricks KID might have set up, but paused when he heard faint shouting that seemed to be coming from the floor below. Then the lights went black with an echoing metallic thud and the wailing of a siren took their place, screaming through the darkness, accompanied by several loud bangs and clatters as doors slammed shut of their own accord and metal security gates dropped down from the ceilings.

In the sudden darkness, Shinichi noticed the metal cage coming down around the glass sculpture too late. It connected with the floor, trapping him in with the dragon statue just as the alarm cut off, leaving his ears ringing in the restored silence of the dark and empty exhibit. His head tipped forward, forehead bumping gently against the metal bars of the circular cage. "You have got to be kidding me."

Pushing out a resigned sigh, Shinichi flicked on the flashlight in his watch and started edging around the circle. It didn't take him long to find the small electronic keypad that was fixed to the outside of the cage. It seemed like it had been added on rather than built in, exposed wires trailing out from it and coiling up the bars of the cage to disappear somewhere in the darkness above him. He reached through the bars and carefully maneuvered the thing around so that it was facing the inside of the cage. Taped to the bottom was a square of paper with a riddle, a sequence of numbers, and a KID doodle. Shinichi resisted the urge to bang his head against the metal bars, but it was a near thing.

At first glance, the riddle seemed to suggest that the next four numbers in the given sequence would be the passcode to open the cage, but Shinichi hesitated, reading it over several more times before something clicked and he let out a small laugh. "The numbers don't let you _out_ of the trap," he murmured to himself. "The numbers _are_ the trap. So then this line…" He trailed off, sliding his finger under the words as he considered their possible meanings. "Of course," he breathed. "The dragon." And he reached over the keypad to pinch a green wire between his fingers. It came loose with a firm tug and a moment later the cage was lifting up and disappearing into the ceiling with a quiet rattle.

Just as the room fell silent again, KID dropped down from the ceiling in a loose crouch, his landing light and brisk, his cape fanned out behind him in an obnoxiously perfect half circle on the floor. Shinichi almost didn't jump at his sudden appearance. But only almost.

"Congratulations on your escape, Tantei-kun," he said as he straightened up in front of Shinichi. The sharp shadows cast by Shinichi's one small light source made the grin KID wore flat out creepy. "You're the only one to actually make it out so far."

"Shouldn't have made it so easy," Shinichi said, smirking and shifting his weight just a little to get a better look at the gleam of wire he'd noticed connected to KID's hand. It was an attempt at subtlety, but KID never did miss those sorts of things, so he wasn't surprised when KID raised the hand with the wire into the beam of light.

"Curious?" he asked. "Take a look around."

Shinichi eyed him suspiciously for a moment before turning the light upwards. It flashed on a series of wires strung around the walls and ceiling, connecting shadowy panels that he was pretty sure hadn't been there before.

"What are you up to, KID?"

"Up to?" KID said innocently, but he gave the act up almost immediately. "What am I _always_ up to, Tantei-kun?" He tugged on the wire and the panels above them all shifted just slightly.

The room was suddenly filled with light. Moonlight was reflecting across an intricate network of mirrors, all angled just right to throw the light down in a soft white circle over the sculpture, the colored glass casting luminous pools of rich greens and blues across the polished floor. Shinichi stared, not even aware of his hand moving to switch off the flashlight on his watch.

KID walked up to the statue, stepping gracefully up onto the pedestal to pass light fingers over the silvery diamond and Shinichi heard, just faintly, a quiet, disappointed sigh. Then KID stepped down again, and when he turned to Shinichi he was smiling. "Ah well," he said. "At least this was fun!"

On impulse, Shinichi decided to take a chance. "What are you looking for, KID?" he said, meeting KID's eyes.

"Well now, who knows?" KID replied without missing a beat.

"I'm serious. Just tell me. What does this have to do with the Organization?" He didn't look away, even as KID considered him in drawn out silence. Eventually KID shook his head, the motion slight.

"I don't want to tell you that just yet, Tantei-kun."

"Yet, huh?" Shinichi said, slipping his hands into his pockets. KID shrugged.

"I feel like I might, some day."

"What if I catch you? Would you tell me then?"

KID laughed and the sound was warm and rich. He took a step closer and lowered his voice to an intimate purr. "No one can catch KID… Isn't that right, Tantei-kun?"

Shinichi's face went bright red with embarrassment and KID grinned back at him. "Well, my work here is done! I've left you some parting gifts in the other exhibits… and the lobby… and on the roof." The grin became much more wicked and Shinichi belatedly fumbled to bring up his watch, focusing himself again and firing a dart at the same time that a smoke bomb went off. The needle passed through the empty purple cloud and clinked gently against the wall and to the floor.

A light sigh escaped him, scattering the quickly thinning smoke, and Shinichi cast a sidelong glance at the dragon statue. After a few moments of thought, he carefully stepped up onto the pedestal and reached up to touch the diamond embedded in the glass, just as KID had done, but a moment later he was shaking his head, hopping back down to the floor and turning his thoughts to more immediate concerns, like what kind of "parting gifts" he was about to find.

.

It didn't take long at all for Shinichi to discover what KID had meant by "parting gifts." The security gates in the exhibit were all still engaged, and each one between him and the door had been fixed with one of KID's little riddle locks. He had to solve three more just to make it to the stairwell.

Shinichi flicked on his flashlight as he left the moon-bathed room and carefully made his way to the fourth floor where his suspicions were confirmed when he found two large groups of task force officers, each trapped in a section of the spacious gallery by similarly modified security gates. Two more puzzles later, Shinichi had the gates rolling open and he headed back into the stairwell ahead of the group to tend to the lock he was now certain had been added to the door he'd passed on the second floor.

For whatever reason, when the officers followed him down, they all waited on the stairs rather than moving past him, watching him solve his seventh riddle that night. It felt more than a little strange, having that many eyes on his back as he tried to concentrate, but he did his best to convince himself that it was fine. That it didn't bother him. That attention wasn't necessarily a bad thing. A small breathy laugh escaped him as the lock popped open and he turned the handle, finally letting the two officers out into the stairwell. Three years ago he'd been showing off, thinking he was so smart. Nothing like going into hiding and nearly getting killed several times over to knock that right out of a person.

The group of officers and Shinichi headed down the last flight of stairs and into the darkened lobby to find a few more officers clustered around the front doors, all pondering a now familiar little black box attached near the handles, spotlighted by several flashlights. Shinichi stepped up to join them and peered at the note taped to the lock. This one appeared to be a cryptograph that, once decoded, asked a question, the answer to which then had to be translated into a number code to unlock the door. Shinichi sighed but he couldn't help but smile, just a little. "You guys want some help?" he offered.

The relief was audible as they all stepped aside with a few murmurings of gratitude and sheepish apology. He took an extra minute to make sure this door wasn't rigged like the first trap then entered a quick succession of numbers. The little device sealing the doors popped off with a click and Shinichi caught it. "There you go," he said, handing it over to a nearby officer. The man took it, bewildered, but he smiled back when Shinichi looked over at him.

"What are you all doing standing around?" Nakamori rumbled as he limped into the lobby, pulling the wheeled chair from the surveillance room along behind him by the handcuffs. "I'm getting reports of officers stuck on the roof. Let's get up there and get that door open!"

" _You're_ not going anywhere," Aoko said, walking up behind him with her hands fisted on her hips, looking just as irate as Nakamori did.

"I got it," Shinichi said, already heading back toward the stairwell. He jogged all five flights and was deeply gratified when he arrived at the roof access door barely winded. Turning his wrist slightly, he directed his light onto the ninth puzzle lock.

This one had a row of switches instead of a number pad, and the usual riddle taped beside it telling which one would open the door. Scoffing, Shinichi flipped the switch on the far right and a tangle of flustered task force officers suddenly broke through the door, colliding with Shinichi and tumbling to the floor on top of him.

"Ow…" he groaned, extracting his arm from the pile of officers to rub at the new bump on the back of his head. He turned his flashlight onto them. "Everybody okay?"

There was a chorus of affirmatives as they all scrambled to their feet and helped each other up. Shinichi followed as they started back down the stairwell, but he paused at the third floor landing. He'd been alone on the fifth floor when KID set off all of his traps, so he was fairly certain that floor was clear, and he'd already checked the fourth, second, and first, but he had skipped over the third on his way down earlier in favor of saving the two officers he'd left trapped when he was chasing KID.

 _Might as well,_ he thought, diverting his course and opening the door.

The pottery exhibit was dark and silent and empty as he wandered through, and at first he thought there was nothing there to find, but then his eyes caught on another of KID's devices wired into the elevator call button. Shinichi walked over and knelt in front of the contraption to get a better look. When he realized what he was looking at was a countdown with only seconds left, he nearly fell over backwards in a panicked scramble to get away. Twisting around and slipping a little on the tiled floor, he dashed to the other side of the room, but paused when he realized those few seconds were up and nothing had happened at all. He edged slowly back toward the elevator and looked again at the small display on the black box. It was still counting down, or rather, it was counting down again. As he watched, the numbers flicked past zero and reset themselves to ten to start over again in a short, repetitive cycle.

Shinichi heaved a sigh of relief and turned his focus to the riddle taped to the wall. Apparently, he was supposed to hit the big red button at the right moment in order to open the doors. And according to the riddle, the right moment was at seven seconds. Shinichi waited, finger hovering over the button as the time reset again. Ten. Nine. Eight. _Click._

A loud _thud_ echoed through the exhibit and the lights all through the museum flared to life again, far too bright after the extended time in darkness. Then the elevator dinged and the doors slid open in front of him. Hakuba was lying inside, fast asleep on the floor… and his hair was neon pink. Shinichi cringed as he stepped into the elevator, glad that KID seemed to focus pranks like that on Hakuba more than anyone and feeling only a little guilty for the thought.

"Hey, Hakuba-kun," Shinichi called, kneeling beside him to shake his shoulder. He received no response. "There is no way I'm hauling you down three flights of stairs," he muttered to himself, and he reached over to push the button for the lobby, taking his chances since the device on the elevator was already unlocked. The doors slipped closed and Shinichi pulled Hakuba's arm up around his shoulders and rose slowly to his feet, dragging the sleeping detective up off of the floor. The doors opened again onto the lobby and Shinichi half dragged Hakuba out of the elevator to deposit him on a bench. If what he'd observed was any indication, Nakamori's daughter would take care of him from there.

Half an hour later, after explaining what had happened with the diamond since the security feed had cut out when KID killed the power, Shinichi headed back home. He stretched his arms a little as he walked, realizing that he somehow felt a lot more relaxed than he had in a while. He'd been tense and not sleeping well ever since the near miss with Yasuda, but this heist had actually been… kind of fun. The thought brought back the memory of KID saying the same after he'd checked the diamond, and Shinichi let out a long sigh, folding his hands behind his head and looking up at the moon. He wondered, just briefly, if the thought that he and KID had actually agreed on something should bother him, and he smiled, because really, it didn't.


	7. Chapter 7

**Case 7 – When Everything Goes Wrong**

.

The manipulation of perception, of drawing the eye – the focus – to where he wanted it, was fixed so deeply within him that it had become second nature. Decoys and optical illusions and just the right amount of fluid motion at exactly the right time was something he hardly had to think about anymore, even now when it was the difference between getting shot and getting away.

KID was keeping careful count of the bullets as they tore the air around him, but the amount of time it took the sniper in the window of the taller building across the street to reload was not quite enough for him to switch to offense and make a move without exposing himself. And then the door to the roof opened beside him and things got a whole lot worse.

Shinichi had barely stepped through the doorway when the next bullet cut past him, grazing his temple close enough to send a warm line of blood down his cheek. Beside him, KID drew the card gun, the motion so quick Shinichi couldn't follow it, and aimed at the window of the building across the street.

"Is your aim just poor or are your eyes weak?" KID called out. "I'm over here." It was a struggle to keep his eyes on the sniper's perch and not let them move to Shinichi. To make sure that he was all right.

Across the way, the sniper murmured quietly, "I know," and with a flick, he turned on a laser scope and settled it steadily over Shinichi's heart. It was a moment's notice that the sniper did _not_ have to give, but he wanted his intentions made known, and he didn't much care who he hit, or if he hit at all, as a smoke bomb went off around the two young men on the roof. He squeezed the trigger.

In the cloud of smoke, KID grabbed Shinichi's wrist and yanked him to the side, ignoring the brief cry of pain, and dragged him back through the door to the roof access stairwell, bullets pinging around them. He slammed the door and finally, _finally_ allowed himself to look at Shinichi. The side of his face was coated in red now, and he was holding his left arm, blood visible beneath his fingers.

"Did you get hit?" KID demanded. "How bad is it?"

"It's just a graze," Shinichi replied honestly.

They both paused, listening to the silence of the rooftop through the door, and heard the sniper call out, "If you hide, Kaitou KID, I'll just have to find other targets!"

There was no sound from the rifle, but there was suddenly screaming from the street below and KID was back through the door and running for the edge of the roof in the same moment.

"KID!" Shinichi called out, but KID ignored him, engaging his glider and leaping from the roof without a second thought. The glider cut past the sniper's perch, drawing the barrel of the rifle back up with a bright glare of moonlight on metal, and another bullet just missed its target. A moment later, KID had disengaged the glider and dropped onto a fire escape on another nearby building, rushing up the metal steps to the roof before taking off again from the higher ground. He circled carefully, weaving to throw off the course of the bullets as he came steadily closer to the sniper's perch.

With KID closing in from above and still avoiding every shot, and the police gathering below in a wave of sirens and flickering lights, the sniper was beginning to panic. When his eyes caught on the roof across the way, he whipped the rifle back down and leveled it once again at Shinichi who was standing out in the open, staring him down.

 _What the hell is he doing?!_ KID thought, swearing as he coaxed his glider lower.

There was a soccer ball on the roof, no doubt produced from Shinichi's belt, and Shinichi took a running start, smashing the ball into the air and across the gap between the buildings just as the sniper fired. The shot went astray as the man jerked away from the incoming ball, and the ball smashed into the rifle, knocking it from the sniper's hands.

The timing was perfect. At that moment, KID reached the right altitude to swoop in, and a pink cloud of sleep gas exploded around them.

Then a shot rang out, echoing between the buildings, and KID pitched down out of the cloud.

For a moment, Shinichi's breath stopped, a thrill of fear seizing his chest in a painful grip as he stared over the edge of the roof. But then KID caught himself and sailed off around a corner and Shinichi let out a harsh breath of relief. He turned and ran back for the stairs, sprinting down to the ground floor and across the street to the other building, catching his breath in the elevator up to the floor where the sniper had been. Throwing open the door, he found him fast asleep on the floor under the window, a limp hand still curled around a handgun with his finger over the trigger, and the rifle lying a few feet away.

The police weren't far behind. Shinichi could hear them searching the floor for the right room and he stepped out into the hall. "In here," he called.

Several officers hurried into the room, moving immediately to cuff the unconscious sniper and haul him away. Once he was removed, one of the officers approached Shinichi.

"You're Kudou Shinichi-san, isn't that right?" he asked and Shinichi nodded. "Are you all right? There are paramedics just outside…"

It was with a jolt that Shinichi suddenly remembered his injuries. The side of his face was sticky with blood, though the bleeding seemed to have mostly stopped, but the graze in his arm was deeper than he'd thought and his sleeve was already soaked through. "Ah, yes, I'm all right," he said, rubbing some of the blood away from his face with the cuff of one sleeve. "I'll head down now. Thank you."

Shinichi made his way out of the building and easily spotted the gathering of emergency vehicles just up the road. He had had every intention of seeking medical attention – but that was before he saw the blood on the sidewalk. At first it crossed his mind that it was his own from when he had run across the street, but the theory was discarded almost as quickly as it had come. The splash pattern indicated that it had come from much, much higher up… His head jerked up, staring at the empty sky above the drops on the pavement. They were right below the window where the sniper had been. A curse slipped from between his clenched teeth.

Forgetting everything else, Shinichi took off running down the street, away from the paramedics, following a trail of blood.

.

The worst part of it was that it had caught him blind and completely unawares. The pain and the sound had been simultaneous, the shot loud, leaving his ears ringing badly enough that he couldn't hear anything else, and for just a moment he thought it was the sound itself that had ripped into him – blazed through him – and not the bullet. His eyes flinched closed and he turned badly, and he knew it was bad, but he couldn't stop it. A corner of the glider dipped and he plummeted down out of the smoke.

It took more strength than it should have to pry his eyes open again and right himself, just barely catching a good draft that he could use between the tall buildings, and putting all of his attention toward getting away. He had no idea if the sleep gas had taken effect. He had no idea if the sniper was taking aim again to put him down once and for all. He just flew – as far and as fast as he could away from that building.

His feet stuttered against the ribbed roof of a warehouse a few blocks away, his landing sloppy and uncontrolled. When he deactivated the glider, the wind dropped him and he fell to his hands and knees, gasping through the pain in his side.

A moment's pause was all he allowed himself. Then he was back on his feet and stalking shakily over to a nearby skylight. His hands fumbled with his tools as he weakened the seal and removed the dirty panel, leaving a wide hole in the ceiling of the warehouse. Then, sucking in a breath, he braced himself and grabbed the edge of the roof before dropping down inside to hang from the edge of the skylight. There was a wide rafter beam just in front of him, a few feet over from where he was dangling, and he swung carefully, building the momentum that would help him reach it. At the peak of his last swing, he let go and landed lightly on the beam before dropping heavily to one knee, just barely keeping his balance. His hand had automatically moved to cover the bullet hole just under his ribs and some part of him was almost afraid to move it – like he could somehow hold himself together as long as he kept it there.

KID sucked in another sharp breath, shaking the unhelpful thought away, and brought both hands down on the edges of the metal beam, steadying himself as he moved toward the wall, leaving streaks of blood as he went.

When he reached the end of the beam he turned carefully and sank back against the wall, his breath coming in sharp, ragged hitches. He couldn't stop his left hand from coming around again to clutch at the wound, but his right was digging into his pockets to extract a small bottle and a handkerchief. He knew he was losing blood fast. He knew he was probably in some degree of shock if the shivering was any indication. He knew the pain was about to get a whole lot worse, but he wrenched his shaking fingers away from his body anyway and unscrewed the top of the bottle, releasing a smell almost like alcohol.

Taking one last deep breath, he brought the mouth of the bottle close over his injured side and tipped it gently. A clear liquid splashed over and into the wound and his head snapped back, banging solidly against the wall despite the now crumpled brim of his hat, but he did not make a sound. For a few brief moments his shivering was escalated to more intense tremors before he reigned them in, quickly pouring just a little more of the solution over the wound before he let out a harsh breath and tried to relax.

With the last of the liquid in the bottle, he soaked the handkerchief and pressed it firmly to his side, holding it there as he tucked the empty bottle away again. As he did, his fingers brushed against the Mariner's Sorrow – a silver cuff set with a large facetted sapphire – tucked away in a pocket, and he let out a small sigh. At least he'd managed to steal it before everything had gone wrong.

KID's head tipped back against the wall, gently this time, and he allowed his eyes to close as he pressed the handkerchief more firmly to his wound. He'd been shot before, and he'd had enough close calls to tell him he needed something that would increase his chances if he ever got caught in a bad situation without any help to be had. It wasn't ideal, and he had hoped to never need it, but the liquid – a fun mix of chemicals he'd come up with for just such an occasion – would numb the pain and slow the bleeding until part two of his preparations could come to fruition.

KID forced open heavy eyelids and glanced around the ceiling without moving his head. There were doves on the rafters around him, all lined up and watching him, and he stopped a small laugh before it could start. They knew what they were seeing. He'd trained them to know what blood was and what blood meant and there was a _lot_ of blood happening right now and all he could think as he watched one of the birds fly off through the displaced skylight was that he was proud of them for remembering their training.

And then his eyes slipped closed.

.

The trail of blood stopped right at the wall of a warehouse and, as Shinichi ran up, a dove took flight from the roof and disappeared into the distance.

There was no way up to the roof from the outside of the building and the door was locked so, without another choice, Shinichi broke one of the windows, wincing at the sound of the shattering glass. Careful of the shards, he climbed inside and looked around. From what he could see in the dark room, the warehouse seemed clean and well ordered, filled mostly with rows of towering metal shelves lined with boxes and crates.

His eyes were drawn up to where moonlight was spilling in through an open hole in the ceiling. Large rafter beams cut black shadows through the silver light, and there, by the wall at one end, was a white figure. Shinichi could just make out the shape of a tall silk hat.

"KID?" Shinichi called out. The name echoed slightly around the shelves but there was no response. No other sound.

Without any hesitation, Shinichi grabbed onto the nearest shelf and started climbing, cursing his bleeding arm as he hauled himself up within reach of the rafters and scrambled onto the dust-slick metal beam. There were a few doves stirring silently on the rafters nearby, watching Shinichi as he edged forward in a crouch toward where he could now clearly see KID slumped against the wall with blood soaking through his clothes under a gloved hand held over his side.

He reached the end of the beam and braced a knee on the metal right in front of KID, but KID had not moved or spoken the whole time. Swallowing hard around the tightness in his throat, Shinichi reached out for him.

"KID?" he said again, only managing a whisper.

The blur of movement startled Shinichi enough that he almost fell from the rafter. KID was suddenly alert, his card gun drawn and the barrel pressed to Shinichi's left eye. Shinichi's hand twitched, part of him wanting to reach for the anesthetic watch, but he couldn't bring himself to move, stunned by the terrifying glare KID had fixed him with. His eyes were cold and sharp and locked on Shinichi and his hand held the gun steady. For several seconds, neither of them moved.

Shinichi could see the moment KID realized who he was, his eyes softening and a small, pained smile touching his lips. But he could not seem to lower the gun. "Don't know when to give up, do you, Tantei-kun?" KID said quietly.

Shinichi breathed out a small laugh that held a slight nervous edge. "Give up?" he said. "Why should I?"

"That sniper was shooting at _you_ tonight," KID reminded him, and the strain was there in his voice. Shinichi resisted the urge to look down at the bleeding wound in KID's side and held his gaze steady, staring past the cold metal of the card gun. "Anyone… with good sense would have taken the rest of the night off after catching him," KID continued. "…You did, right?"

"Yeah," Shinichi answered. "You knocked him out. The police took care of the rest."

Something in that simple statement seemed to break whatever was holding KID together. His hand finally fell away, but the breath of relief Shinichi might have indulged in at having the gun lowered died in his chest. KID's hand was shaking and a wet sounding cough had his eyes squeezing shut, pain clear and vibrant on his face. A dove took off from a neighboring rafter and flew off through the open skylight.

"KID… Can you still move?" Shinichi looked around, seeking a workable way down from the rafter with increasing desperation. "You need help; we have to get you down from here."

KID's eyes opened just slightly and he considered Shinichi for a few moments, his breathing quietly labored. "I have some contingency plans in place…" he managed after gathering his strength. "Why should I go with you, Tantei-kun?" There was still somehow laughter in his voice and it only served to make Shinichi more desperate.

"Because you need help _now_ ," he said. "…And I owe you. I'm staying. It's up to you whether you let me help. Now can you get down from here or do I have to carry you?"

"Are you trying to say you won't turn me in?" KID asked, watching him. Shinichi's hands were balled into tight fists, his jaw locked, his eyebrows pulled together over narrowed blue eyes that kept flickering down to measure the blood soaking through KID's clothes. He looked very stressed and slightly angry.

"You think I would really do that in a situation like this?" Shinichi snapped at him and KID's eyes widened at the heat in the words. They slipped closed again on a laugh and he relented.

"All right then."

Before Shinichi could do anything, KID had vanished the card gun and attached some kind of device to the rafter. A strangled sound escaped Shinichi's throat when KID then rolled right off of it, and he stared, knuckles white on the edge of the beam as he watched KID quickly lower himself to the warehouse floor by the extending cable coiled around his right arm. He landed lightly on his toes and looked up at Shinichi.

"Well? Are you coming, Tantei-kun?" he called.

For a moment Shinichi was stunned, too amazed that KID could still move and speak like that. When he shook himself from it, he shuffled carefully back across the rafter beam and lowered himself onto the shelving again to begin his awkward climb down. When he made it to the floor and over to where KID was standing, KID had already disengaged his modified grappling hook and put it away.

"Geez, are you actually all right?" Shinichi asked as he walked up. "Don't tell me you've been putting me on–"

"Do you have a plan right now?" KID asked.

"What?"

"You seem to be the type to run head-first into tough situations and just figure out the rest later. Do you have a plan right now?"

Shinichi opened his mouth to answer, but KID staggered at that moment, trying his best to keep to his feet even as his vision darkened, a high pitched sound blotting out his hearing. Shinichi moved forward just in time to catch him and KID sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. He had Shinichi's sleeve in a fierce, shaking grip, but it suddenly went slack, the tension and struggle going out of KID's body all at once as he passed out.

"KID! Shit…" Shinichi carefully lowered KID to the floor and pulled out his phone to call Agasa as the last of the doves flew off through the skylight.

.

It didn't actually register with Shinichi that it was the middle of the night until Haibara answered the phone instead of Agasa.

"Kudou-kun? What's going on? I thought you were at a KID heist." There was a beat of silence and when she spoke again her tone was stressed. "Is it–?"

"No," Shinichi said quickly. "No, it's… Look, can you get the professor? And hurry. Please."

Urgency and desperation were there in his voice and Haibara headed for Agasa's bed even as she demanded to know what was going on. "You're not hurt," she said, and it was not a question. "But someone is, and if you're calling the _professor_ and not the police–"

" _Haibara._ …Please."

Shinichi heard her sigh, and there was a slightly distant murmur from Agasa as Haibara nudged him awake. Before she handed the phone over, she said slowly and clearly, "Don't trust him, Kudou-kun."

"Haibara," Shinichi said, suddenly exhausted. "I know you don't like KID but–"

"Do not trust him," she said again. "He's involved with them somehow. You don't know who he is. I am _asking_ you… just watch your back."

Haibara thrust the phone at Agasa before Shinichi could respond and he took it, his other hand fumbling for his glasses. "Shinichi?" he said, his voice a little sleepy and confused.

"Hey, Professor," Shinichi sighed. "I have a favor to ask…"

.

Shinichi tucked his phone back into his pocket. Now that help was on the way, he turned his full attention back to KID, and for the first time noticed the blood-soaked handkerchief that had fallen to the floor when KID collapsed. He didn't think much of it until he caught the strong scent of the chemical solution. His eyes were drawn again to KID's face and he wondered, not for the first time, just what kind of person KID was behind the hat and monocle.

It was obvious to Shinichi now that KID had been holding the handkerchief to his wound, so it was likely that whatever was on it was meant to help. He shrugged off his jacket, flinching at the pain in his arm, then picked up the handkerchief and pressed it to KID's wound before folding the jacket around KID's side, bunching it slightly over his stomach and at the exit wound at his back. Then he slipped off KID's belt and pulled it tight around the makeshift bandaging, securing it in place.

It was with some deliberation that he decided to remove KID's hat and monocle as well. Part of him thought he might not have if KID had not already revealed his real face to both him and Agasa when he'd shown himself in front of them with no mask, claiming to be Shinichi. As it was, he tried to convince himself that he did not feel guilty as he reached out to reveal a pale face, damp with cold sweat, and messy brown hair sticking up at odd angles.

It was dark in the warehouse, grey moonlight filtering through the clouded skylights throwing deep shadows between the shelves, but Shinichi could still see that the person lying in front of him was young – much younger than Shinichi had expected. The guy was obviously right around Shinichi's age – still a teenager – but somehow Shinichi had always had the impression that KID was at least a few years older than him. Maybe it was just because KID always seemed so in control – so superior, like he knew just everything. Or maybe it was meeting him so often as a six-year-old that had done it. Whatever the case, seeing him now, like this, he revised his estimate back down to late high school age or so. And it amazed him. Despite everything, he was impressed.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Shinichi brought himself back to the situation at hand. They were still locked in a warehouse, and he didn't want to try to maneuver KID through the broken window if it could be avoided, so he carefully checked a few of KID's pockets and found a set of lock picks. After a few fumbled tries, he managed to get the door open, then he settled down on the floor beside KID to wait for Agasa

.

Upon Shinichi's instruction, Agasa drove around the back of the Kudou manor, and Shinichi carried KID inside on his back. He brought him to a bed in one of the guest rooms and began stripping back the layers of his makeshift bandaging and KID's clothes to reveal the bullet wound just under his ribs on his right side. Agasa came into the room carrying all the first aid supplies he could find and Shinichi set to work, but he knew first aid would not be enough to save him. Agasa was the first to voice that thought.

"There's not much choice," he said, his eyes wandering from the bed to the floor where Shinichi's jacket and some of KID's clothes had ended up – all soaked through with blood. "We're going to have to take him to a hospital."

Shinichi gave a hesitant nod, pulling clean white bandages tight around KID's wounds. "If he doesn't wake up soon," he amended.

Agasa's eyebrows drew down in concern but he didn't argue the point, guessing at Shinichi's thoughts.

Having done what little he could, Shinichi sat back beside the bed, his mind racing through their options if KID _didn't_ wake up, a countdown running in the back of his head, keeping track of how long it had been since KID was shot – how much longer they could wait before the internal bleeding became critical, even if he was otherwise patched up.

 _We could say he was injured at the heist,_ Shinichi thought. _It wouldn't even be lying. But if that were true it wouldn't make sense for him not to be taken care of by the ambulances that were there. In that case, it might be better to just say I found him like this on my way home. It wouldn't be the first time. No, but if that happened I would have just called an ambulance when I found him…_ "Ugh…"

Aggravated and stressed, Shinichi pushed a hand through his hair. It came away sticky with blood and he suddenly remembered the injuries on his forehead and arm.

"What are you going to do?" Agasa said, gathering some of the supplies together and moving to sit at Shinichi's left so he could help treat his arm.

"I don't know." Shinichi slumped a little, feeling the exhaustion of the long night and his injuries. His eyes flickered back to the bed, to KID's pale face, drawn with pain even now. "We don't have many options… I screwed up."

.

When Kaito woke, it was from a nightmare of being dragged down into cold, _freezing_ cold water, dark and chained. His body jerked and he shot up, choking on a cry of pain at the aggravation of his wound. He fell back again onto his uninjured side, tense to the point of shaking and half curled into himself. A cough he could not suppress brought the hot metal taste of blood to his tongue, and his breath came in sharp gasps as he reached for the card gun, the grappling hook, a smoke bomb, _anything_ , and came up with nothing at all.

The panic prowling around the edges of his harried thoughts stalked closer as he looked at himself and processed the implications of being only half dressed in none of his own clothes. His eyes quickly turned to the room around him and immediately fell on Shinichi standing nearby, a few steps back from the abruptly vacated chair beside the bed. He seemed to be making an effort to hold himself very still, his hands raised as though frozen in a placating gesture as he watched KID silently.

"Tantei-kun," Kaito managed, clutching his side again as he dragged himself up against the headboard. "…What are you doing?"

"The last time I caught you by surprise you almost shot me in the eye. I thought I should probably give you a minute this time." The answer was flawlessly calm. Practical. Kaito couldn't seem to find anything to say. Shinichi didn't seem to expect him to. He moved slowly but not uncertainly back to the chair and sat down.

"I want to know your contingency plan," he said.

Something about the detective's confidence kicked Kaito's brain back into form and KID smirked. "There's only one in this situation," he said, mind racing to fill in the gaps between now and what he last remembered and where everything – _everything_ – would have to go from here. "…I could use your help."

.

Apparently, it was all about framing. Shinichi wasn't convinced, but KID certainly was, and his confidence, as reluctant as Shinichi was to admit it, had a definite draw to it.

"I can make anything look like anything, Tantei-kun. It'll be fine; just let me handle it. I just need you to 'find' me… and make sure no one interrupts while I'm setting up."

The plan itself seemed simple – to set up a scene that would make KID look like a civilian victim of a random attack.

"The rest is just stories – that's easy," KID had commented, staring hard at the city map Agasa had fetched from his house for them. "Here," he decided, pointing. "Give me a few minutes; I'll meet you out by the car."

Kaito started to get up from the bed and tried to smile when Shinichi snuck a glance back at him as he was leaving the room. He headed toward the pile of his things that had been left on the floor near the foot of the bed, but the moment he was sure Shinichi and Agasa were gone his legs folded under him and he sank down, clenching his teeth and clutching at his side. Ignoring the things on the floor, he pulled out Shinichi's cell phone instead, having picked it from the detective's pocket before he'd left.

Jii answered on the first ring but he didn't speak.

"Jii-chan," Kaito said, and he made no effort to hide the strain in his voice.

"Thank goodness," Jii breathed out. "Where are you?"

"…Don't worry about that for now," Kaito answered. "Go to Beika General. I should be there soon."

"Bocchama…"

"I'll be fine, Jii-chan. I've… I've got help."

Jii paused, but only for a moment. "What name do you want?"

Kaito let out a little sigh. _Of course he'd want to go with_ that _plan. He's gonna get himself involved…_ "Taniyama Kazushige," he answered. "What relation are we going with?"

"Uncle," Jii said.

"Right. I'll see you then."

.

When KID came outside he was dressed in street clothes with all the appropriate holes and bloodstains, and was looking a bit paler. He managed to sneak Shinichi's phone back into his pocket without him noticing it had ever been gone, and the three of them got into the car and headed to the spot KID had picked out. When they arrived, KID instructed Agasa to leave them there and head home, giving him a story he was to stick to in case anyone saw him at any point or asked him any questions later.

"Thank you for all of your help, Professor," he'd added with a tired smile, leaning an arm against the roof of the car to speak through the passenger side window. "I'll come by and help get rid of any evidence of all this later, but for now I doubt anyone will come looking, if they ever do at all."

Agasa had been a little bewildered by the straightforward, comfortable approach KID had taken during the whole encounter, but he found himself actually worrying for the thief's wellbeing as he drove away. There was just something about him that reminded Agasa of Shinichi – something that went far deeper than their similar appearance.

Shinichi had observed the exchange quietly from the background, and continued to simply watch as KID set up the scene after Agasa had gone, reviewing all the while the story that Shinichi was to stick to about why he was there and how he'd happened to find him.

Finally, he'd put himself into position on the ground and glanced up at Shinichi.

"Well, critic-san, anything amiss?" he asked.

Shinichi moved carefully to examine the scene as KID tried to keep himself still, waiting patiently, his breathing subtly labored.

"There's no bullet or marks where one might have hit after going through you," Shinichi assessed aloud. "There's very little blood on the ground. The patterns of most of the bloodstains on your clothes don't match the position I've found you in… I'd say it all matches up with your story – that you were shot somewhere else and dumped here."

"Good."

"Hey… KID… The bloodstains. How did you do it? What did you use?" They certainly _appeared_ to be real, but that wouldn't hold up to any testing, and that didn't seem like a corner KID would cut.

KID laughed a little. "I'm supposed to be covered in my own blood. What else _would_ I use?"

Shinichi stared. "Oi, oi… You're _actually_ insane, aren't you."

The only acknowledgement that received was a smirk. "Well then, Tantei-kun. I'm in your hands." A small, pill-like tablet appeared and KID snapped it between his fingers. It started smoking and KID calmly breathed it in – and quickly passed out as it disintegrated, leaving nothing behind.

Having not been informed of this part of the plan, Shinichi choked on his surprise and muttered out a curse as he ran forward to begin his part, already scrambling for his phone to call the police.

.

The ambulance came and took KID away, and Shinichi stayed behind with Megure at the scene to give his assessment, then went home as usual – as if it had just been one more crime he'd stumbled upon as he so often did. He'd asked to be kept informed of the victim's condition under the pretense of getting more information about the case whenever he woke up, but all he heard from Megure was that the kid hadn't known anything, or at least nothing useful.

A week passed and Shinichi was sitting in the guest room staring down at the large sapphire set into the wide silver cuff and wondering, not for the first time, what the hell he was going to do about it when his cell phone rang. It was Megure, and Shinichi answered but only just stopped himself from asking for news on KID. He had to remind himself constantly that this was supposed to be just a random case that had luckily turned out to only be _attempted_ murder, and that under normal circumstances he would not have still been so consumed with it.

"Kudou-kun," Megure said, sounding a little harried and a little baffled. "That kid you found – he disappeared from the hospital."

"…What?"

"No one can figure it out. He just up and vanished and we have no way to find him. The name we had for him didn't check out… We're stumped."

Shinichi was already on his feet and hurrying upstairs to grab some of his gadgets. This was _not_ part of the plan, at least, not as far as he knew. If someone from the Organization had figured it out. Had found him… "Let me take a look around his room," Shinichi told Megure. "See if I can figure anything out. He might not have left on his own–"

He passed by the library at that moment and dropped his phone, taking in a startled breath and flinching away to get his back against a wall as his hands came up to aim the anesthetic watch all in a rushed moment of adrenaline before he realized the unexpected person sitting in his house was actually Kaitou KID. KID glanced up from where he was patching his glider and gave him a pointed look. Then he gave the phone on the floor a pointed look. Shinichi just stared.

"Kudou-kun? Kudou-kun, are you okay? Kudou-kun!"

Shaking himself, Shinichi finally scooped up the phone again and fired off a quick assurance as to his wellbeing and a vague comment about looking into the hospital disappearance before hanging up on Megure's concerned questions. Then he went back to staring. KID, understandably, spoke first.

"I don't know why you're so surprised; I said I'd be back to help clean up and I _did_ leave all my stuff here… I like your library."

Shinichi blinked. "Um, it's my dad's," he managed.

"Kudou Yusaku-san, right? I've read all his books."

He blinked again. Kaitou KID had read all of his father's books? The thought was a little strange. It was easy to forget KID had a life outside of jewel theft, even if he was sitting in front of him now looking for all his life like a normal guy. "KID…"

"Kaito."

"…What?"

"Kuroba Kaito." Kaito didn't move, didn't even glance up, focusing on the glider under his hands.

There was a moment of stunned silence before Shinichi stammered, "Are… Are you insane?"

"You know, you keep asking me that–"

"Why would you tell me that?" Shinichi demanded.

Kaito relaxed a little, amused. He glanced up at Shinichi. "I came back here, wounded and unarmed, and let you catch me sitting around in your library," he explained with an air of calm patience. "I'm a thief, Tantei-kun. I could have retrieved my things and vanished before you even knew I was here. I trust you."

"But _why_?"

He seemed to consider that for a few moments. "You could have asked who I was – at the hospital that time with Nakamori-keibu. You could have asked anyone there, 'cause I _know_ you knew it was me. But you didn't." He shrugged, just a little. "So I trust you."

Shinichi had the distinct feeling he was being humored – that there was more to it than just that – but he let it go.

"Do you have any news on the people who were hurt at the heist?" Kaito asked, eyes returning to his work.

"There was only one. She's still in the hospital, but her life isn't in danger. She's recovering."

Kaito nodded, his eyes dark and his mouth set in a grim line.

"KI– …Kuroba. That sniper… He knew your rule and he used it to get to you."

He nodded again and was quiet for a short while before saying, "But it's unlikely they'll try that again. Opening fire like that – it's a good way to get caught, and it didn't even work."

Shinichi saw his hand twitch, but Kaito stopped it from moving over his wound with visible determination. Shinichi frowned. "Would you relax?" he sighed. "There's no point trying to hide an injury I already know about." He was surprised when Kaito smiled up at him.

"Sorry, force of habit," he said, but the muscles in his back and shoulders loosened and his hand ghosted over his side, indulging in the useless gesture because it was somehow just a little bit comforting.

A lot of the tension had gone out of Kaito, but something was still off and it took Shinichi a moment to figure out what. He was too still. Usually KID was all energy and mischief, but now he looked… restrained somehow. Too still and too pale.

"Are you okay?"

Shinichi didn't realize the words had come out of his own mouth until Kaito looked up at him again with wide eyes. Then he grinned. "I'm always okay, Tantei-kun," he said, and Shinichi felt something twist in him. It was all just _wrong._

"…KID–"

"It's _Kaito_ ," Kaito said with overdramatic emphasis. "So not Kuroba either. I let you slide the first time." He shifted a little in the chair and Shinichi got the distinct impression that KID wasn't any more comfortable with his own stillness than Shinichi was. If he wasn't moving around, then it was because he couldn't.

"You shouldn't have left the hospital," Shinichi said.

Kaito shrugged. "There's only so long you can pretend to be unwell enough to dodge questions, even if you're me," he said with a smirk. "Besides, I've been missing classes and work. I need to get back."

"…Work, huh?" Shinichi said, not sure if he should be pushing his luck, but too curious not to at least ask.

"Not much money in thieving," Kaito laughed. "Not if you're me, anyway."

"And what does Kaitou KID do for work?"

"Part-time mechanic," he answered with a grin that made Shinichi wonder if he was lying or if he just knew how unexpected that was and enjoyed surprising people. They both seemed equally likely.

"Really?"

Kaito shrugged. "I accidentally impressed them and they offered me the job. They're good people so I thought why not? I like working with my hands."

Shinichi found himself moving to take a seat across from KID. "Not what I would have guessed," he admitted. "Somehow I thought it would be something more to do with people." He paused a moment, and Kaito could clearly see him considering that, his eyes moving off to the side but looking at nothing. It was… very different from how Shinichi looked during heists – less bright determination and more comfortable pondering. Kaito smiled a little and lowered his eyes carefully.

"I guess magic shows would be kind of risky if people started making connections," Shinichi continued.

Kaito laughed out loud, and it hurt, but he tucked the pain behind the smile he preferred to wear. "I don't make any secret of being a magician," he said. "It's who I am." He produced a red rose from nowhere and offered it to Shinichi. "I wouldn't give it up for anything – that's no way to live." Shinichi's eyebrows pulled down, skepticism clear in the way he searched Kaito's face, trying to read further into his words.

"I have secrets, Tantei-kun," Kaito elaborated. "But they are not all that I am. You can understand that, can't you?"

This time bewildered surprise crossed his face, and it made him look younger, but then that look of thoughtful concentration returned. Kaito was still holding out the rose and Shinichi took it, looking down into the spiral of petals, considering, before he murmured, "Yeah, maybe."

 _Only maybe, huh?_ Kaito thought. _Hm… we should probably work on that._

But for now, he decided, it was maybe a bit too soon. He leaned back against his chair. "You know, it's not that I don't want to become a professional magician," he said. "I'm going to be the best magician the world has ever seen! …Just as soon as that organization is taken care of."

It would be impossible to miss the disappointment there, and Shinichi was struck hard with a feeling of almost overwhelming sympathy. The Organization had already stolen too much with those two and a half years as Conan. The thought that they were taking something like that away from KID as well was almost too much to bear.

He was pulled from his thoughts when KID stood, using the table to help push himself up. "I hate to tell you this, but it's pretty obvious you're hurt," Shinichi said. "And you can't go to another hospital while everyone's looking for the kid with the gunshot wound who disappeared. What are you going to do?"

"Not everyone's a nosy high school detective, Tantei-kun. I'll manage." He deactivated the glider and it collapsed before he whisked it from the table and it vanished with a swirl and a small _pop._ "But it's nice to know you're worried about me~!" he said with a wink.

"Shut up," Shinichi scoffed, pushing to his feet.

"Well then, I should be off." Kaito's eyes softened and he cast a sidelong glance at Shinichi. "Thank you, Shinichi. For everything."

Shinichi froze, blinking back at Kaito with wide-eyed confusion, and the magician grinned before vanishing in his customary cloud of smoke.

Heading back downstairs, Shinichi wasn't at all surprised to find that the sapphire cuff from the heist was gone, along with every piece of evidence that KID had ever been there. Except for one red rose, still held gently between Shinichi's fingers. He looked down at it for a long time, and those same old questions of trust and secrets hovered in the edges of his thoughts, but somehow, this time, they did not quite break through, staying back behind a rising interest and curiosity that made his heart beat just a little bit faster.

He tucked the flower into one of his mother's vases and set it beside the window in the library in a bright spot of sunlight, but really, he thought later that night as he glanced over at it for what was certainly not the twentieth or thirtieth time, it was that much more beautiful in the moonlight.


	8. Chapter 8

**Case 8 – To Prove the Point**

.

KID couldn't help but wonder what exactly he'd done to end up in this situation. Well, besides becoming an international jewel thief and making himself into a blatant target in order to lure out the people from the organization responsible for murdering his father… On second thought that was exactly what had led to this – to Hakuba tying him up on the cold paving stones of a courtyard in Ekoda, under the orders and the gun of an Organization sniper…

.

It was pure coincidence that Shinichi ended up hearing about the next heist set to take place in Ekoda in just a few days – all too soon after KID had been shot. When he arrived at the gates outside the grounds of the old, sprawling mansion property, everything seemed to be proceeding as usual. Nakamori's arm was still in a sling, but he was as energetic as ever as he shouted orders and directions to the task force officers. None of them had any idea that KID had been shot, or that now, just ten days later, he couldn't possibly be okay. And, Shinichi reflected, if he knew KID like he thought he did, no one _would_ know.

But KID had "contingency plans." _Someone_ had to know. He had to have someone.

As Shinichi made his way through the grounds and up to the main house, he spotted Hakuba speaking with an older couple – the owners of the large opal ring that was KID's next target. They were standing in a garden patio just outside a pair of glass doors set in the wall of enormous windows that spanned the front of the house. He came up to join them and the woman, Noda Chiyo, stared for a moment before giving him a tremulous smile.

"Um, you're–"

"Kudou Shinichi," Shinichi said. His eyes flicked over to the man at her side – her husband, Noda Sojiro. He had his arm around her shoulders, keeping very close to her, and he was frowning as he stared at Hakuba and Shinichi.

"Good evening, Kudou-kun," Hakuba said. "I did not know you would be here. What brings you to Ekoda?"

"Oh… I just happened to hear about the heist tonight and thought I'd come check it out," he said, hoping he sounded acceptably casual about it. Hakuba was smart, and he'd been at the last heist. If Shinichi wasn't careful, there was a chance he could catch on to what all had really happened that night.

Uncomfortable with that thought, and even more uncomfortable with the idea of sneaking around behind a fellow detective's back, Shinichi quickly changed the subject. "What's that group in there?" he asked, peering past the couple at a small gathering of uniformed people standing around inside the house. "Are they part of the task force?"

"No," Chiyo said and Shinichi and Hakuba shared a glance at the quick answer. She hadn't even turned to see who he was asking about.

"They're a private security team," Sojiro said. He swallowed nervously and went on. "They won't be a bother. Please, just ignore them and let them do their jobs."

"Noda-san, is anything the matter?" Hakuba asked.

The man hesitated, then finally said, "You two should really leave."

"Leave?" Shinichi repeated. "Why?"

"We really don't care if the ring is stolen," Chiyo said. "It's not that important so please, just go home."

Shinichi glanced again at Hakuba and caught his eye. He could tell the British detective was thinking along the same lines as he was.

"I am sorry, Noda-san, but I do not believe either of us is willing to do that," Hakuba said.

"But–"

"Actually, we should probably go talk to Nakamori-keibu before things get started, right Hakuba-kun?" Shinichi said quickly.

"Ah, yes, good idea. It was nice meeting you," Hakuba said, and he and Shinichi headed back out onto the grounds, toward a grand, glowing fountain that was spouting a rush of white water into the air between a split in a paved path to the front gates. They both stopped beside it in silent agreement that this would be the best place to talk and not be overheard.

"Something is not right," Hakuba said, keeping his voice in a slight undertone.

"I agree. Why would they hire a private security team if they didn't care about the ring?"

"And why are they so anxious? If they were lying and actually _did_ care, they would not have asked us to leave."

"Then they're worried about something else…" Shinichi's hand moved to his chin thoughtfully. "…Did it seem like she recognized me?" he asked.

"Yes, perhaps," Hakuba said after a moment of thought. "You were quite famous after all."

"But not as much in Ekoda, and it's been three years since then." He glanced over his shoulder at the mansion, all lit up and glittering in the night, and shivered. Something was off and he needed to find out what before the heist began.

"There's something I need to check," he said. "Don't wait up." Shinichi took off running back toward the house, leaving Hakuba slightly stunned in confusion. As he ran, he passed a woman wearing the uniform of the private security team. She was heading toward the fountain, but Shinichi didn't pause or look back even as he felt her eyes follow him as he rushed by.

The woman stopped and turned to watch Shinichi go for just a few seconds before she approached Hakuba. She held out her hand. "Hakuba Saguru-san, right? I'm Saki, head of Noda-san's security team."

Hakuba took her hand. "Nice to meet you, Saki-san," he said.

"Was that Kudou Shinichi-san I passed by just now?" she asked, glancing back again. "Where was he going?"

"Kudou-kun usually prefers to investigate on his own," Hakuba said. "But how do you know him?" _After all_ , he thought, _Kudou-kun is right. It's strange that people here keep recognizing him._

"I've been talking with the Kaitou KID task force," Saki answered. "Figured I should get some input from the experts for this job." She smiled and Hakuba relaxed a little. It was logical enough. "And actually, I hear you two are good – that you can actually give Kaitou KID a run for his money, you know? I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

.

It didn't take Shinichi very long to find one of the windows KID had surely unlocked in advance for his own use later that night. He climbed through it into a dark room and crept across to the door, easing it carefully open into the hallway beyond. He didn't have enough information yet to determine what exactly was going on with the Noda couple, but he decided to start with the ring. All the task force had been able to tell him when he'd arrived was that it was kept in a safe inside the house, but they had been asked to keep to the perimeter of the grounds and they didn't have any more details to give him. Still, he was sure he'd be able to find it, and then, at least, he might also find KID.

Voices were coming from a room up ahead and he slowed, intending to sneak past, but then he caught a few words from the conversation.

"…were trying to get them to leave!"

He recognized the sound of Noda Chiyo's voice, but it was wavering. She sounded scared. He pulled up short, stopping beside the slightly open door.

"Did we say you could tell them to leave? They're part of the plan now, so you shut up and stay put and you'll come out of this just fine, do you understand me?"

There was no response and Shinichi edged over to peek into the room. Chiyo and Sojiro were sitting together on a couch surrounded by four uniformed members of the private security team, and both of them looked terrified. It didn't take a famous detective to figure out that these people were not actually a security team. That left two possibilities. Either they were thieves thinking they could take the ring and pin the blame on KID… or they were Organization lackeys sent to finish what the sniper at the last heist had started.

Shinichi leaned back a moment and took a calming breath then glanced back into the room. Just four of them. On impulse, he pushed the door open and moved inside.

"The heist has started," he lied with urgency. "Come with me; I know where KID will be heading." He turned and ran from the room, ignoring the stunned looks on Sojiro's and Chiyo's faces, and, after a quick glance around at each other, two of the fake security men ran after him. He was waiting for them a short way down the hall and caught one in the neck with a dart from his watch. As the man stumbled, succumbing to the anesthetic, the other hesitated and Shinichi planted a solid kick into his stomach. The man went down right next to his partner and Shinichi quickly dragged them both into an empty room and closed the door. Doubling back, he returned to stand just outside the room where the other two were keeping watch over the Nodas, and fished the voice-changer out of his pocket. He quickly tuned it to match the voice he'd overheard earlier and called out through it, "We're gonna need some extra hands; come here for a minute."

Inside the room, the two fakes, a man and a woman, traded suspicious glances before the woman moved cautiously out into the hall. Shinichi was alarmed to see that she was leading with a gun, but he grabbed hold of her wrists as soon as she was in view and forced her hands up, smashing the weapon into her nose hard enough to knock her out. He wrested the gun from her slackened grip as she fell back into the room and Shinichi stepped over her quickly, the gun now trained on the last of the "security" team.

"Step away from them," Shinichi said. He felt no small amount of relief when the man obeyed, raising his hands and stepping back from the couch where Sojiro and Chiyo still sat, looking more terrified than ever. Then, suddenly, a shrill, muted whistle sounded from outside, and through the window they saw colored lights pop into bright showers of sparks. They reflected in Shinichi's widened eyes as his mind was momentarily flooded with thoughts of KID, injured and out there somewhere with a good number of these people still running around the mansion, but his attention was drawn back quickly when the man made to reach for his own gun.

"Get down," Shinichi said firmly to Sojiro and Chiyo, and they both ducked, sliding quickly off of the couch to crouch against it on the floor as Shinichi squeezed the trigger. Chiyo screamed, startled by the crack of the gunshot, and the man screamed as well as blood splashed over his hand. He dropped to his knees and his gun clattered to the floor. Shinichi ran forward to kick it out of his reach.

"Noda-san, can I use your scarf," Shinichi asked, dropping the other gun onto the couch and removing the new and improved elasticity suspenders Agasa had refitted for him out from underneath his blazer.

Her hands were shaking, but Chiyo stood and removed the delicate scarf she'd been wearing and handed it over to Shinichi. He tied it tightly around the suddenly complacent man's hand then twisted the suspenders around both of his wrists and around the iron grate of the fireplace in the room. With a click of the button, the suspenders constricted, both putting pressure on the bleeding wound and lashing the man to the grate so that he could not get away.

"There are a lot more of you, aren't there," Shinichi said.

The man swallowed nervously, wincing at the pain in his hand. "Eleven," he said.

"You mean seven besides you four?"

He nodded.

"Great." Shinichi turned to Chiyo and Sojiro. "Come on. I need you two to head out of the grounds and stick with the task force. They'll keep you safe." _And then I've got to find KID…_ "Can you tell me where you were keeping the ring?"

.

KID slipped through a window out into a large, square courtyard washed in moonlight in the center of the mansion and paused, grinning, as he spotted Hakuba standing across from him beside a bubbling fountain.

"Ah. You. Good evening," KID greeted.

"I am inclined to agree, since this evening will finally see you behind bars, KID," Hakuba replied calmly.

"Now, now. What makes you think tonight will be any different when you've failed so many times before?" KID's grin was wicked but he was watching Hakuba particularly closely. If he were being honest, he could easily see how tonight might be the night that Hakuba would catch him. He was exhausted and the painkillers he'd taken couldn't quite keep up, but worse than that, he was alone. His mother was abroad traveling again and he'd lied to Jii because he knew he wouldn't have approved of Kaito attempting a heist so soon after being shot. He'd have tried to take Kaito's place as KID, and Kaito wasn't about to let that happen. He knew the quick turnaround on this heist after such a close call at the previous one was almost certain to draw them out again. He couldn't let Jii take that risk.

And Tantei-kun… Shinichi… He'd picked a target in Ekoda specifically so that Shinichi wouldn't hear about it. No one knew. He was on his own.

"You are off your game tonight," Hakuba observed and KID's eyes narrowed. "You have not noticed that we are not alone."

Before KID even had a chance to look around, a small red light blinked on in an upper window behind Hakuba and KID's heart lurched, recognizing it as a laser sight. Hakuba was oblivious.

"…Tantei-san–" KID took a step toward him but a foreign voice suddenly crackled through a radio clipped to Hakuba's belt.

"You did well to predict KID would escape through the courtyard," it said. "I'm glad we decided to use you after all."

The sinister intent was easy to recognize and Hakuba turned just slightly to look behind him. Saki was crouched behind a rifle in a high window, aiming at his head.

"I left some rope for you on the bench there," she informed him through the radio she'd asked him to carry. "Why don't you go ahead and tie KID up. I'm sure you'll meet no resistance, unless the famous Kaitou KID is okay with seeing that clever brain of yours blown out onto the pavement."

Hakuba slowly looked round at KID. The thief had lost all humor, all mischief. His face was completely blank as he slowly swept out an open hand to gesture to the ropes coiled on the nearby bench.

"By all means," he said to Hakuba, and he kept carefully still as Hakuba hesitantly moved to the bench.

"The man we had at the last heist might have screwed things up," Saki mused aloud through the radio as Hakuba gathered the ropes, moving slowly, stalling as much as he felt he could while his mind strained for some idea that might get them out of this. "But I guess his plan wasn't all bad. Using that rule of yours against you, though a little more prudently, will do just fine."

KID tensed as Hakuba approached, waiting for the detective to move behind him, out of the line of fire, to bind KID's hands, but Saki stopped him.

"Just a moment," she ordered, and Hakuba froze. "KID, on the ground."

Hakuba saw KID's jaw tighten, but the red mark of the scope was still on Hakuba's head so KID obeyed, lying face down on the large, flat paving stones that spanned the courtyard and giving Hakuba a slight nod. Hakuba hesitated just a moment then knelt beside KID with his back to the sniper and every intention of tying a false knot. He might not have wanted to admit it, but he knew, at this point, KID was the only one who could get them out of this mess.

Then he heard a bullet zip by and blood ran down his face from a cut on his cheekbone. He fumbled the ropes.

"No screwing around," Saki said sharply. "Honestly, that's the problem with you detectives. No sense of self-preservation."

"I'm inclined to agree," KID muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Move around to the other side of him. I want to see what you're doing."

Again, Hakuba hesitated.

"She _will_ kill you," KID warned, keeping still where he lay on the ground. "Do it."

Hakuba swallowed. "Yes," he agreed grimly. He shifted around to KID's other side and used the two lengths of rope to first bind KID's wrists together behind his back, then his ankles as well.

"Good," Saki said through the radio once she was satisfied that the knots were tight and real. "Search him please. Set anything you find well out of reach and when you're done turn slowly to me and show me your hands."

Hakuba pulled KID up from the ground and propped him against the wall opposite Saki's window. KID did his best not to wince as the wound in his side protested the movement, but then his breath caught for an entirely different reason. Shinichi was staring out at him from the first floor window directly below Saki's, shock evident on his face before it quickly gave way to cold hate as he spotted the laser on the back of Hakuba's head.

KID forced his focus back onto Hakuba. He was systematically pulling things from under KID's suit jacket – the card gun, some lock picks, some smoke bombs and sleep gas, the opal ring, a grappling hook attachment for his gun…

 _There_ , KID thought as Hakuba extricated a small remote with one button. "Careful with that," he said, meeting Hakuba's eyes with deliberation. "Wouldn't want that to go off too soon." He moved his eyes purposefully up to Saki then back again but Hakuba only set the remote aside with the rest of the items, raising an eyebrow at KID's seemingly random comment.

"I should think you would have better things to worry about at this point," Hakuba said, and KID mentally slapped a palm to his forehead. Why did Hakuba have to be so damn literal? He glanced again at the window across the way, but Shinichi was gone. KID's head tilted forward slightly, his hat shadowing his eyes, and he breathed out a quiet sigh. He was probably delusional – probably just imagined Shinichi standing there in the first place.

Hakuba finally stood and stepped back from both KID and the pile of things he'd taken from him and slowly turned toward Saki, his hands raised and empty. KID watched him go, but then his eyes caught movement through the glass doors off to his left behind Hakuba. Shinichi was standing there, half in shadow, watching the upper window carefully and keeping just out of Saki's sight. KID quickly averted his eyes so as not to give him away.

"Thank you," Saki said to Hakuba through the radio. "Your services are no longer required–"

"Just a minute, sniper-san," KID called out, and Saki paused with her finger on the trigger of her rifle. "Are you sure you want to do that? You'll cause trouble for your organization, won't you? Getting caught like that?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Saki's voice grated through the speaker.

"My trap, of course."

Saki laughed. "Not this time, Kaitou KID. What can you do in a situation like this?"

KID shrugged, slowly and carefully rising to his feet with the aid of the wall behind him. "What _can't_ I do?" he said, grin sharp on his face. He caught a quiet snarl through the radio, followed shortly by the telltale whisper of a silenced shot. Something collided with him in almost the same moment, but it wasn't a bullet. Shinichi had dashed out from his hiding place and tackled KID to the ground, the bullet glancing past Hakuba and striking the wall where KID had been standing a second before.

KID hit the paving stones hard, unable to suppress a pained groan. Shinichi had landed on top of him, but the detective didn't take the time to remove himself to a less awkward and painful position, reaching instead for the remote in the pile of things they had landed beside. He grabbed it and pushed the button.

Hakuba whirled, startled by the sudden popping sounds and flashing lights coming from the upper window. Then several spotlights snapped on, illuminating Saki, now bound with hands and feet tied together and struggling in a net hanging out of the window with colored streamers dangling from it. Then sirens started blaring from the scene.

Shinichi tore his eyes from the bizarre sight and looked down at KID who shrugged and laughed though the sound was very slightly strained. Shinichi quickly removed himself from on top of him and KID sat up, moving just a little slower, just a little more stiffly than Shinichi would have called normal for him – but the grin was firmly in place.

"Better luck next time~!" KID called out to the sniper.

"There are still six more of them running around here somewhere," Shinichi warned in an undertone as Hakuba plucked the radio from his hip, adjusting the channel and listening closely for any communications they might be able to pick up from the others.

"There's a tunnel over there," KID said, nodding toward a corner of the yard where a pair of metal, cellar-like doors was set in the ground. "The property has a lot of fountains and there's a network of maintenance tunnels where they ran the pipes and electricity for all of them. I unlocked it earlier. We shouldn't run into any of them down there.

"Now, if you'd be so kind as to untie me?"

A bullet suddenly smashed through the radio Hakuba was holding and pieces of it flew, cutting into his hand and adding a few more nicks to the graze on his cheek. More of the security team were gathering at the courtyard windows on the first floor and KID flattened himself on the ground and rolled over toward the pile of things Hakuba had taken from him. He managed to grab the opal ring with his teeth before Shinichi wrenched him up by his ropes and started dragging him after Hakuba who was running for the tunnel doors. He threw them open and dashed down the stairs and Shinichi pulled KID along after him, ducking behind the metal doors just in time to block the path of another few bullets. He let go of KID and yanked the doors shut over their heads and they slammed with an echo, throwing them all into darkness.

"There's a deadbolt lock," KID's voice said from somewhere below Shinichi, the words just a little jumbled as he spoke around the ring. Shinichi clicked on the light on his watch and quickly found the bolt, wrenching it into place. "Lights too," KID added, and with a little more searching, Shinichi found a switch and flicked it on. Dim orange lights flickered to life revealing a narrow brick tunnel with pipes and cables running along the walls, and low ceilings, only just high enough to stand under. Hakuba was standing at the bottom of the stairs, and KID was sitting a few steps down from Shinichi, propping himself up against the wall in what was probably meant to look like a casual fashion. Shinichi wasn't sure if his knowledge of KID's condition was coloring his perception, but it seemed to him that KID was having trouble holding himself up. Shinichi moved down the stairs and crouched beside him.

"I can't believe you stopped to grab the ring. You don't even keep the stuff you steal; was it really that important?

"Here Hakuba-kun, catch." Shinichi took the ring from KID's mouth and tossed it down to Hakuba who caught it with a smirk.

"I haven't checked it yet!" KID complained.

"Later. Now hold still; we need to get these ropes off."

"I do not think we have time for that," Hakuba warned.

Sounds of shouting and running footsteps were echoing down to them from somewhere in the tunnels and Shinichi swore under his breath.

"Hakuba, help me with him." He hauled KID to his feet again, pretending not to notice when KID sucked in a tense breath, and pulled him down the last few stairs. Hakuba came to KID's other side and he and Shinichi each grabbed him under his arms and started half-dragging him backwards down the tunnel.

"I thought you said we wouldn't run into any of these guys down here," Shinichi muttered as they went.

"Well obviously they found one of the other entrances and figured out they're all connected," KID grumbled back. "Take the next left."

The two detectives obeyed without a thought and continued through the passages, following KID's instructions and keeping, it seemed, just ahead of their pursuers.

"These people who are after you… Does it not seem like they have been far too active lately?" Hakuba commented to KID.

"Yeah, actually," Shinichi agreed. "What are they up to?"

KID, however, wasn't listening. As he was still being pulled along backwards, he had a good view of the woman who had just run around the corner after them. She raised her gun.

"Look out!"

Shinichi and Hakuba halted to turn back and KID managed to get his still-bound feet more firmly on the ground, but the most he could do was throw his weight to the side, pulling out of Hakuba's grasp to ram into Shinichi. The two of them fell over as Hakuba jumped back, ducking around the corner of a fork just up ahead. The two quick shots the woman fired missed entirely.

Shinichi scrambled to drag KID around the other corner then ejected a ball from his belt. In one precise movement, he stepped out from around the corner and blasted the ball down the tunnel with a fierce kick. The gun went off again, but the shot was wild, striking somewhere above Shinichi's head, and the ball smashed into the woman's face. She went down hard and Shinichi rushed back to KID's side, helping him sit up. KID's face remained stoic, but Shinichi could feel the tension all through his body as he fought to hide his pain. Shinichi immediately set to work on the ropes.

"Tantei-san," KID said carefully to Hakuba as his feet were finally freed and Shinichi started on his wrists. "There's an exit straight down that fork. We should split up."

Hakuba considered for a moment then nodded and turned to run down the tunnel. KID pushed himself to his feet and grabbed Shinichi's hand. "Let's go, Tantei-kun. There's another exit this way." He took off running and Shinichi had little choice but to follow.

"KID," he said in a sharp undertone once he felt they'd put a fair amount of distance between themselves and Hakuba. "You need to stop. You're hurt–"

"Not now, Tantei-kun."

The sounds of pursuit were echoing down the tunnels toward them again and KID did not slow as he reached another stairwell and vaulted up it to a narrow wooden door, throwing it open and suddenly shoving Shinichi ahead of him into the basement of the mansion. As soon as they were both through, KID spun and slammed the door shut, flicking the turn-lock into place.

"Is Hakuba-kun going to be all right?" Shinichi asked, turning to look back at KID. "The exit you sent him to–"

"I wouldn't have sent him that way if I hadn't already taken care of it." KID turned as well and dropped his back against the door, folding forward just slightly, and Shinichi felt something wrench inside him at the look of pain on KID's face. "It lets out at the bottom of a stairwell up to the kitchen," he breathed out. "So it locks from outside the tunnel. I left it open earlier. He should be fine." He seemed to take a moment to collect himself, his eyes slipping closed for just a few seconds before he pushed away from the door. "Get out and get to Nakamori-keibu and the task force," he said. "Let them know what's going on." His voice was still a little strained but his lips kicked up in a smirk. "I should make a good distraction in the meantime. They're here for me, after all."

Without warning, KID dashed past Shinichi, his cape whirling behind him, and headed for the stairs up to the main level of the mansion. Shinichi immediately ran after him, ignoring KID's instruction with determined and obstinate purpose, and followed him without a word up to a third floor balcony. KID, with only slight deliberation, chose not to argue and simply continued on without acknowledging Shinichi's choice.

On the balcony KID engaged his glider, but as he was moving to fasten the belt around his waist Shinichi reached out and knocked his hand away. KID actually staggered forward a step when Shinichi grabbed his suit jacket and yanked it open with a little more force than he'd intended, revealing a dark patch of blood soaked into the blue shirt underneath.

"Why did you pull another heist this soon after that last one?" he demanded, his fist still clenched around the material of KID's jacket. He was surprised when KID's hand moved up to cover his, and even more surprised at the faint smile he wore as he gave a little shrug.

"I had to make sure the Organization knew the kinds of tactics the last sniper used aren't worth the risks they come with for them. I had to make sure they knew that wouldn't stop me. So that they wouldn't try it again."

Shinichi only held on tighter. "Your rule is a load of crap," he stated. "No one gets hurt, right? Well, _you_ got hurt. And now you're making it worse. Did you ever think of that?"

KID stalled, at a loss for what to say, but it didn't matter because Shinichi wasn't finished. "Don't disappear this time." He was staring KID down, and KID couldn't help meeting his eyes. After too long a pause, he nodded, then somehow slipped right out of Shinichi's grasp and tipped backward over the railing as he fastened the glider's belt.

.

It was more surprising than it should have been to find that the Kaitou KID task force was actually a fairly efficient and competent group of officers. Used to a far more elusive target, they had very little trouble locking down the perimeter of the mansion grounds and arresting each of the Organization lackeys that had been posing as security guards in order to kill KID and steal the ring.

"That is all eleven," Hakuba said, standing beside Shinichi to watch as they were packed into patrol cars and taken away. "You… did say there were only eleven…"

"I only have their word for it," Shinichi answered. He glanced over at Hakuba. There was a bandage on his cheek where Saki's bullet had grazed him, and he was staring uncertainly into the large stand of trees that blocked the mansion property off from the main road. "…Why?" Shinichi asked slowly. "Something up?"

Hakuba shook his head. "I thought I saw…" He stopped and sighed. "It is probably nothing. I am sure no one could have gone under KID's radar. He would tell us if there was another threat around."

Shinichi's eyebrows went up, still a little surprised whenever one of KID's opponents openly spoke well of him. At the same time though, while he was sure Hakuba was right, he knew that KID was not at his best. Someone could have slipped by unnoticed.

They were both distracted from their thoughts when something small dropped out of the sky to land at their feet. They looked up just in time to glimpse a shadow passing through the air high above their heads before it disappeared over the trees.

"KID!" Shinichi ran forward a few steps, still staring at the spot where the thief had disappeared, but he knew he'd never catch up to him. He turned back sharply, swearing under his breath. He'd told KID not to disappear and had _thought_ KID had agreed, but apparently he was not above lying to Shinichi's face.

"What did he drop?" he asked as he returned to Hakuba's side.

"The Nodas' ring," Hakuba answered, holding it up.

Shinichi blinked. "But… when did he…?"

Hakuba was shaking his head. "It could have been any time after you gave it to me. I thought it was still in my pocket, but he must have taken it at some point."

"Of course he did," Shinichi said flatly. "Whatever. We should let Nakamori-keibu know."

.

Nakamori was not pleased to find that KID had taken off without so much as putting in an appearance with the task force. His complaints were loud and generally unflattering toward KID, but Shinichi, as he was finally leaving to catch a cab back to Beika, saw the inspector looking deeply troubled and wondered if the man was actually concerned over KID's unusual behavior.

Shinichi, for his part, had laid his worry aside to make room for his anger. After searching fruitlessly for any sign as to where KID had gone, he'd given up and headed for home, trying the whole ride back to convince himself that if KID had been able to cover his tracks and escape as flawlessly as ever, he had to be okay… right?


	9. Chapter 9

**Case 9 – Clarity**

.

The sun was coming up by the time Shinichi finally trudged up the front walk and unlocked his door. He wrenched off his shoes, almost overbalancing as he did so, and pressed forward toward the stairs, but stopped abruptly when he passed the sitting room. He gave his head a quick shake and blinked his eyes hard before accepting what they told him. KID, or rather Kaito, was lying on his couch.

Shinichi walked into the room and let out a small breath, enormously relived to see that Kaito seemed to be sleeping – not dead and probably not passed out. Just sleeping. He nudged the couch cushion tiredly with his knee. "Oi, Kaito," he said. "Hey, wake up."

Kaito's eyes opened and he turned his gaze slowly up to Shinichi with a little smile. _What do you know? He actually used my name._ "Good morning, Shinichi," he murmured, inching up just a little to prop himself against the armrest of the couch.

Shinichi was not amused. "Let me see your wound," he said firmly, already kneeling beside the couch and reaching for Kaito's shirt. Kaito's first instinct was to stop him, but he consciously stilled his hand and allowed Shinichi to lift his shirt, revealing the clean white bandaging underneath.

"It's like you don't trust me when I say I'm okay," Kaito said lightly, still smiling just a little. "I'll be fine."

"Of course I don't trust you, stupid thief," Shinichi grumbled, letting go of Kaito's shirt and sitting back on his heels. Kaito watched relief wash over Shinichi's tired face and felt his own eyes widen.

"…Why don't you ever think to turn me in, Tantei-kun?" Kaito suddenly asked, keeping his face carefully neutral and watching Shinichi's even more carefully. Shinichi looked up, startled, and Kaito continued. "You're more than willing to try to catch me yourself, but once you do, why does it feel like you just let me go? With everything you know now, you could have gone to the police. You _should_ have gone to the police."

Shinichi felt heat creeping up his face and cursed himself inwardly, knowing the blush was probably obvious. "I don't know," he answered honestly, and a bit petulantly. "Why do you trust me so damn much?" he shot back.

Kaito smiled. "Because I know I can." He leaned over the edge of the couch. "And you can trust me too, Shinichi." His hand came up, gentle on Shinichi's cheek, drawing him forward just a little, and Kaito paused to read Shinichi's reaction – wide-eyed surprise and a hint of confusion, but not alarm. He was staring, meeting Kaito's eyes, and Kaito could almost see Shinichi's mind working even as his breath stilled in his chest in instinctual anticipation. The detective did not pull away. Kaito leaned in and kissed him.

It was not a timid or cautious kiss. Kaito had already decided that if this worked out – and he wanted it to work out – then this would be their first kiss, and he sure as hell intended to make it a good one. Shinichi found himself quickly drawn in, rising up slightly on his knees without being aware of doing so as Kaito stole his breath away. When Kaito eventually released him, he sank back to the floor again, eyes blinking wide, and Kaito brushed light fingers through Shinichi's bangs with a smile that was both adoring and smug.

"O-Oh…" Shinichi said in acknowledgement of Kaito's obvious message. "I… I, uh…" He breathed out hard, completely lost for words, and Kaito laughed a little, the sound soft and light.

"Get some sleep, Shinichi," he said. "I'll be here when you wake up."

Shinichi gave a small, hesitant nod and pulled himself to his feet. Kaito watched him go, easing back into the couch cushions, his hand moving over his aching side again without conscious thought. Intellectually he knew that this was something that would take some time – something that Shinichi would have to think about. He would have questions, surely, and some of them might be difficult, but despite all of those things, Kaito couldn't help the feeling filling him now with warmth and comfort. He closed his eyes and could almost feel Shinichi's lips against his again.

 _Yeah,_ he thought, smiling like a fool and not caring. _I've got it bad…_

.

Shinichi stepped into his bedroom and closed the door carefully, and for a long while he just stood there with his back against it, his heart pounding and his face red. His mind was still racing when he finally moved to collapse onto his bed, not even bothering to change out of his clothes, but though he was exhausted he couldn't quite fall asleep. His thoughts were chasing themselves in unhelpful circles as he bobbed in and out of consciousness, and after just two hours he gave up and dragged himself to his feet, heading right back downstairs, having barely rested and having reached no resolution for his harried thoughts.

He found Kaito sitting at his kitchen table, a fresh pot of coffee in front of him.

"Hey…" Shinichi said from the doorway, awkwardly averting his eyes.

Kaito frowned a little. "You look awful," he said, getting up carefully and moving toward him without thinking. "Are you all right?"

Shinichi took half a step back and Kaito stopped immediately, leaving the space between them.

"Look, KID… Kaito… I, uh…" He groaned and raked a hand through his hair, leaving it sticking up in a fair imitation of Kaito's without realizing it. Kaito kept his smile carefully tucked away, aware of the tension building and what was probably about to come. "I'm not sure how I feel about… last night – this morning? – yet. …I'm actually mostly _unsure_ and that's probably a sign that this… isn't a good idea…"

 _If this is already a "this" in your mind then that's a sign too,_ Kaito thought, but he kept it to himself. Instead, he moved right up to Shinichi, meeting his eyes steadily, and told him, "There's not always only one truth, Tantei-kun." He took an extra moment to just stare back into Shinichi's confused gaze, managed a small smile, then stepped around him and vanished before Shinichi could even start after him.

"Kai–" The name cut off into a frustrated sigh and Shinichi let his forehead fall none too gently against the wall, feeling slightly sick. When he turned back to the kitchen table, there was a slip of paper that he was sure had not been there when he'd walked in a minute ago. It was lying next to an untouched mug of steaming coffee and he dropped into a chair, pulling both closer and staring down at the phone number and little clover drawn on the paper as he took a long, deep drink from the mug, letting the coffee scald his mouth and throat. He finished the entire pot before it had barely cooled, and a shower and quick change of clothes later he was knocking at Agasa's front door.

The professor had already been up and about experimenting, but given that nothing had exploded that particular morning he was fairly surprised to find Shinichi at his door as early as 9AM.

"I really need to talk, Professor," Shinichi sighed.

"Shinichi, are you all right?" Agasa asked immediately, guiding Shinichi into the house with a hand on his shoulder. He leaned in as soon as the door was closed and lowered his voice. "Is it the antidote? Is it wearing off? Or having side effects?"

"What? No," Shinichi said, looking startled. "KID came to my house last night. We talked and… he kissed me." Agasa seemed to choke on nothing, turning away slightly and coughing a little. Shinichi winced, knowing how bad it sounded. "I let him," he added quickly, feeling defensive for KID's sake. "But then this morning I told him I wasn't sure about… that."

Agasa continued to avoid eye contact, trying not to think too hard about the fact that KID apparently also spent the night. He led the way into the sitting room and Shinichi followed dropping onto one of the couches.

"Shinichi… maybe this is something you should be talking to your parents about–"

"Of course it isn't!" Shinichi said, horrified. "I need advice, not… I don't even _know_ what. I don't know what to do, Professor. All he said was 'there's not always only one truth.' What the hell does that mean?"

He hadn't actually expected Agasa to answer. Really, all he needed was to get some of his thoughts out of his head before they drove him insane, but Agasa had collected himself by that point and he sat down across from Shinichi's slumped and defeated form.

"Of course there's more than one truth," he said and Shinichi's head came up, a look of betrayal on his face. "You are a detective," Agasa explained patiently. "KID is a thief. He is also a good person. These are all the truth."

Shinichi was still looking at him like he was crazy and Agasa went on. "Do you remember what you told me over the phone that night Conan first went after KID? I asked you why you did not call the police if you had figured out the heist notice, and you told me–"

"I want to meet this guy, Professor; he's no ordinary thief," Shinichi recalled, stunned to realize he'd been making exceptions for KID almost from the very beginning.

That night came back to him more easily than most memories. He remembered the thrill he'd felt, racing up the stairs to the roof of the hotel to wait there for KID, the shock he'd felt at KID's impossible appearance on that same roof moments later, and the game they had begun from that point on.

But that didn't mean anything. Of course he loved KID's challenges. He was a detective; it was just in his nature. And yes, Kaito seemed like a good person, and yes, he might respect him as KID, and even as Kaito for as little as they'd known each other outside of the thief and detective business. He seemed intelligent, and responsible, and brave–

Shinichi abruptly shook himself from those thoughts. _But what about all the secrets?_ he reminded himself. KID was obviously up to something, and it was something to do with the Organization but… he was fighting _against_ them, wasn't he? Just like Shinichi was. He'd even saved Shinichi's life – quite a few times, actually – and he stole the information for the antidote for him as well. He obviously trusted Shinichi and cared what happened to him. And so what if Shinichi didn't think he'd ever valued anyone else's… affection, for lack of a better word, quite as much as he valued Kaito's? So what if the thought that KID could probably have anyone he wanted, and chose Shinichi, made Shinichi really entirely too happy? What it really came down to was that KID was someone Shinichi could trust, and _did_ trust. He trusted him with his life, easily, but he also trusted him with the lives of others, which probably said a lot more about how deeply that trust ran.

But what he was feeling now was… different. It _felt_ drastically different to suddenly be looking at KID as Kaito, and looking at Kaito as someone he _liked_. Someone he was… attracted to, strange as it was to admit it. His thoughts were suddenly pulled back to that one, startling, frightening, _amazing_ kiss they'd shared and he felt his face start to heat. He quickly shook himself from that memory.

The reasonable, down-to-earth part of his brain decided that these feelings were not to be trusted. He knew a lot of what he was feeling could be attributed to an excess of teenage hormones that he might not really be used to yet that could be affecting his judgment. But then again, did that matter? So _what_ if he sorted this all out later and realized he _didn't_ love KID? Did that mean he should avoid him now? Stop going to heists? Never see him again–?

Shinichi was stopped cold by the sudden memory of KID on the rafter of the warehouse, slumped against the wall, so still, blood darkening the white suit, and how scared he'd been that KID might not make it this time.

He thought just as suddenly of the frightening, ice cold stare KID had worn when Shinichi had gotten too close, and of the shark's grin he threw on flawlessly to creep people out and hide his thoughts and emotions. Of the smile he'd only ever seen on Kuroba Kaito's face, just the memory of which was enough to completely fill him with an almost uncomfortable warmth, and he wanted to know. He wanted to know everything that made Kaito the Kaitou KID and everything that made KID Kuroba Kaito and everything behind that damned poker face because he was scared that there were secrets there that might really get KID killed and he could hardly stand the thought that that would mean Kaito would be gone too. He'd never be able to see KID as just some distant mysterious phantom thief again. There was a real person behind all those masks and…

And Kaito was out there somewhere, injured, right now. Had been in so much pain just a few hours ago in the basement of that mansion that he hadn't been able to hide it, and Shinichi was terrified. He needed to see him, needed to make sure he was all right, because _nothing_ had ever felt like what he had felt when he saw Kaito hurt and still laughing just because he could.

Shinichi suddenly realized he was on his feet, his phone in his hand, and he stared down at it blankly for a few seconds before dropping back onto the couch, the phone landing in his lap, and covering his face with his hands.

Agasa was watching Shinichi with no small amount of concern, and they both jumped when Haibara spoke from where she stood, unnoticed, in the doorway.

"Can I make an observation?" she asked, and her tone said she'd both heard enough and that she was not actually asking for permission. Shinichi flinched, seriously considering telling her off for eavesdropping, but he stayed silent. "You're getting awfully worked up over someone you don't even know," she said, arms folded and staring across the room at him with critical eyes.

Shinichi's jaw clenched. "I've known KID longer than I've known _you_ , Haibara," he answered stiffly.

"Okay. What's his name?"

For a long few seconds Shinichi just stared back at her, matching the challenge in her gaze but not rising to it. "That's not mine to tell," he finally stated.

"Shinichi… Do you actually know who he is?" Agasa asked.

"He told me," Shinichi admitted.

"He was lying," Haibara said immediately.

"No. I really don't think he was."

"And we can trust _your_ judgment here," she stated with all skepticism.

" _You_ don't need to. This doesn't have anything to do with you, and I did not come here to deal with your paranoia about KID."

Shinichi stood. "Thanks, Professor," he said. "I think I'll be all right. I'll let you know what's going on." He headed back out into the hallway, leaving Haibara sulking and Agasa stuttering, and went back to the Kudou manor where he stood in the foyer, staring down at his phone. He knew that if he called, Kaito would come back… but he didn't want him to do that. He needed to see him – to make sure he was all right – but he didn't want Kaito out walking around like he hadn't just been shot a week and a half ago. His mind made up, Shinichi put the phone back in his pocket. He would just have to track Kaito down himself.

He headed up the stairs and dropped into his desk chair, opening his laptop. He stared at the screen.

"…I really am such an idiot aren't I," he murmured. All he had to go on was a name. He didn't know where Kaito was from, or where he was living now. He didn't even know how old he was. _I guess Haibara had a point… to a degree._

It didn't make him any less determined to find him. He'd never get to know any of that if Kaito died from internal bleeding or infection because he was too insane and reckless to take care of himself. Shinichi refocused on his task.

He knew Kaito was a part-time mechanic. Maybe. He still wasn't sure if he had lied about that, but he knew with more certainty than he should that Kaito was telling the truth when he'd said he made no secret out of being a magician. He probably wasn't spreading his name as one because of the Organization, but while Shinichi didn't know much about Kaito's background, he definitely knew his personality, and he was sure he'd have made an impression on anyone he met. So maybe his best course of action wasn't trying to look him up on a computer. He'd be better off asking around to see if anyone knew the name Kuroba Kaito.

 _Actually… A magician named Kuroba… Wasn't there…?_ Shinichi set to his keyboard and in seconds came up with another name. Kuroba Toichi – a famous magician. It gave him a little pause. Kuroba Kaito could easily have been a false name KID had given him, just as Edogawa Conan had been named after the mystery writers in the Kudou family library, but… he honestly didn't think so. KID could just as easily be Kuroba Toichi's son. It would explain how he was so skilled with magic – he must have started at an early age.

Shinichi scanned through the search results and found that Kuroba Toichi had lived with his family in Ekoda.

 _Well,_ Shinichi thought. _It's as good a place as any to start._

.

Shinichi was starting to have second thoughts. From the moment he'd stepped off the train in Ekoda, he'd wondered where he should start. He picked a direction and started walking, and he passed by plenty of people, but it seemed just too strange to stop any of them and randomly ask about Kuroba Kaito.

 _Maybe if I just mess up my hair I'll get lucky and someone will mistake me for him,_ he thought with a quiet laugh. He stopped walking abruptly when the thought brought up a memory. Hadn't Ran and Sonoko mistaken someone for him in Shibuya once? That had been right around the time…

 _Oh my god that was Kaito,_ he thought with an exasperated sigh. He continued down the sidewalk again as he thought back to when they'd seen him the second time. He hadn't gotten a good look at him then, but he remembered the school uniform he'd been wearing, and that of the girl who'd been walking with him. If he could find that school…

.

As it turned out, several students at Ekoda High had heard rumors of a student called Kuroba who had graduated in the spring. He was well known for pulling insane, sometimes _impossible_ tricks at school, but none of them had known him personally, and no one knew what he was doing now.

Shinichi left the school grounds with little more than he'd started with. He pulled out his phone and searched for local mechanics instead, and was heading to the nearest one when he passed by the Ekoda police station. On a whim, he stopped and headed inside. A few of the officers recognized him immediately and greeted him warmly.

"Is Nakamori-keibu here?" Shinichi asked, but before anyone could answer, Nakamori walked around a corner.

"Kudou-kun?" he said, looking up from the tablet in his hand. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for someone," Shinichi said. "Do you know of anyone named Kuroba Kaito?"

"Kaito-kun?" Nakamori asked, slightly taken aback. "Why are you looking for him?"

It was with a startling jolt that Shinichi realized Kaito _had_ _actually been at the hospital_ the night Yasuda had attacked Nakamori, and they were _definitely_ going to have a talk about that whenever Shinichi found him. KID was actually hanging around right under Nakamori's nose. Kaito really took _insane_ to whole new levels.

"Um, the Kurobas are old family friends actually," Shinichi lied (or thought he did).

"Oh, well Kaito-kun's mother still lives in Ekoda, but Kaito-kun actually moved to Beika recently."

Shinichi blinked. _Well, at least he didn't have far to travel when he left this morning then,_ he thought, a little bemused. "Thanks, Inspector. I appreciate the help."

He said a quick goodbye to Nakamori and the other officers and headed back out of the station… and practically ran straight into a young woman who'd been standing outside.

"Oh, excuse me," Shinichi said, already continuing on his way back to the train station, but the woman reached out and grabbed his arm, wrenching him to a halt. He turned back, confused, to see her regarding him with dark, suspicious eyes.

"Why are you looking for Kuroba-kun?" she asked.

Shinichi pulled out of her grasp immediately and took a step back, looking her over. She was startlingly beautiful. It was the first thing he noticed and it was difficult to ignore, but he forced himself to focus on details – long, dark red hair, a black jacket, a subtle scowl – but he kept going back to her eyes. Her gaze was fierce, confident, and cold, and Shinichi took another step back. Had he not been watching so closely, he might have missed the brief flicker of confusion that caused.

"How do you know I'm looking for Kaito?" he asked.

"'Kaito'?" she repeated. "Who are you to address him so familiarly? And why aren't you…?" She trailed off and Shinichi blinked, confused when her cheeks gradually colored as she continued to stare at him.

"Stop looking for him," she suddenly warned. A smirk replaced the quickly fading blush. "You'll regret it if you don't." She turned from him and Shinichi immediately moved forward again, reaching out to stop her.

"Hey! What are you–?"

He was too slow and the woman disappeared into the stream of pedestrians passing them by on the sidewalk. Shinichi was left standing in front of the police station, deeply unsettled, and for a moment he considered trying to follow her but quickly decided that tracking down Kaito took first priority. The woman had been strange, and that last comment might have been a threat, but at this point finding Kaito might provide answers about her as well. It certainly seemed like she knew him.

Shinichi stuffed his hands into his pockets and pushed out a sigh, turning to make his way back to the train station. By the time he reached the platform, he felt like his thoughts were mixing and scattering at the same time, and decided that coffee would be his first stop once he reached Beika. Apparently his lack of sleep after last night's heist was getting to him more than he'd thought.

He stepped onto the train and found a spot to stand, hoping that would keep him from falling asleep on the way back, but as the lights blinked and the warning tone sounded for the closing of the doors, he suddenly realized with startling clarity that this was _not_ the train back to Beika. He made a dash for the doors but they slid shut in front of him, and he saw through the window the red-haired woman standing on the platform, smirking as the train pulled away. He stared until the station was well out of sight but he could still hardly believe it.

With a sigh, Shinichi turned from the doors. There was nothing he could do about it now. This train was heading in the opposite direction of where he wanted to go, and he'd just have to wait until it stopped at a station where he could switch–

Someone screamed and several passengers at the far end of the car stood up, drawing away from the back corner seat where a jacket had slipped off of a dead woman who'd been propped up to look like she'd been sleeping. Shinichi's forehead thudded lightly against the train door. "Great," he murmured. He pushed away from the door and started back toward the accumulating chaos. "Everyone move back to the other end of the car," he called. "Did anyone touch the body…?"

.

It was late evening by the time Shinichi made it back to Beika, and by that point he had given up. He didn't have the energy to go searching for Kaito anymore. Instead he went back home, took the note Kaito had left on the kitchen table, and dropped onto the couch. If he could just talk to him – make sure he was all right, maybe get him to tell him where he was… He closed his eyes, trying to think of what to say… the best way to convince him not to come over on his own…

.

Shinichi woke with a start. He was on the couch in the sitting room of the Kudou manor, Kaito's note still in one hand and his phone on the cushion beside him. He couldn't remember setting it down. Slowly, he picked it up and checked the time.

"… _Shit_."

Hours had passed – apparently he'd fallen asleep before he'd actually managed to call Kaito. He stared down at the note, wondering if he should wait now that it was the middle of the night, but his eyes caught on the little clover Kaito had drawn there and he tapped in the number without another thought. Kaito answered on the first ring.

"Shinichi." He sounded calm. Content. Maybe a little relieved? Shinichi told himself he was imagining that last one. Regardless, he could hear the smile in his voice and it set him at ease.

"Kaito–" Shinichi said, and just that much was so full of apology and hope and desperation that Kaito didn't need a single word more.

"I'll be right over."

"But– Wait, Kaito, you're–"

Kaito had already hung up and Shinichi's head dropped back against the couch with a quiet, frustrated sigh.

.

Kaito let himself into the house silently and was drawn immediately to the warm light flooding out from the second floor of the library. Shinichi was tucked into an armchair in the corner, a book open on his lap, and he was running his fingertips over the corner of the pages in what Kaito quickly determined was an unconscious, nervous habit. Every few seconds, his eyes would move over to his watch before shifting back to the book. Kaito smiled as he leaned against the doorway, watching him.

"Shinichi."

Shinichi looked up, only slightly startled. "Kaito…" The book was abandoned on the chair as he got up and crossed the room in a few rushed strides, but he caught himself and stopped self-consciously, rubbing the back of his neck with a guilty expression. "Hey, I'm… sorry about earlier," he said.

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Kaito answered carefully. It suddenly occurred to him that he might have assumed that Shinichi had changed his mind. Really, he had assumed a whole hell of a lot considering that all Shinichi had said was his name. Over the phone. But he was so damn _good_ at reading people that he had been sure… All he was sure of now was that he was an idiot.

"I, uh… I let myself in," Kaito said. "Probably shouldn't make a habit of that, huh. Breaking into a detective's house. Bound to land me in jail, right?" He laughed and tried not to notice how sick it made him feel to come off as confident and nonchalant as he did, slipping back behind his poker face instantly, unconsciously, rather than leave himself exposed. He was admittedly startled when Shinichi suddenly grabbed him, his hold vice-tight on his wrist, and panic thrummed inside Kaito.

"Stop it," Shinichi said, eyes locked on him. "Why are you hiding from me now?"

Kaito was barely breathing, unable to look away. "What do you mean?" he probed cautiously.

"I need to know you're actually okay. This isn't going to work if you can't tell me when something is wrong."

It was not the answer Kaito was expecting. "…'This'?" he asked, feeling his heart speed and swallowing nervously.

"This," Shinichi repeated. Like it was obvious. "Us. …If you want."

Kaito was very suddenly smiling, and Shinichi was not above admitting to himself that he was a little… _dazzled._ He wondered if he'd ever get used to that.

"Yeah, I want that," Kaito said and Shinichi felt himself relax, finally letting go of Kaito's wrist. As soon as he did, Kaito was on him, his hands insistent but gentle on the sides of Shinichi's face as he kissed him. Shinichi was startled at first, but the feeling – the warmth rising inside him – was familiar. His eyes slipped closed and his body relaxed against Kaito's, but in the back of his mind was the sense that he was forgetting something.

That something came back in a rush when he felt Kaito falter slightly against him. Shinichi pulled back immediately, gripping Kaito's arms to steady him, and Kaito clutched at his sleeve for just a moment before he seemed to regain his feet. His face was pale but he was still smiling.

"Heh, sorry. I–"

"You're staying here tonight," Shinichi said firmly.

Kaito blinked at him, a sudden blush rising to his cheeks, making him look feverish. Shinichi let out a quiet, aggravated sigh and tried to push his worry back down.

"Come here." He moved past Kaito, catching his hand on the way, and led him down the hall.

"This is _your_ room," Kaito said as Shinichi pulled him through the doorway.

"The amount of certainty you have in that should probably be more alarming, but I'm sure you've got the whole layout of the house memorized so why exactly are you mentioning it?"

Kaito smirked and shrugged and Shinichi had a moment of disorientation as the lines blurred between KID and Kaito again. _Another thing I'll need to get used to,_ he supposed. "You should be resting," he told Kaito. "Lay down."

Kaito went to the bed without argument but only sat, folding his legs up in front of him and leaning back against the wall. "This is your _bed,_ " he said, giving Shinichi a suggestive look.

Shinichi raised his eyebrows at him over an unimpressed face. "Seriously?" he said.

Kaito laughed, ignoring with determination any pain that it caused. "I'm just messing with you," he said.

Shinichi sighed and slid onto the bed to sit beside him. "…Are you okay?" he asked quietly, keeping his eyes lowered, focused on the mattress beneath him.

Kaito smiled. "Were you worried?" he said gently.

"Of course I was, idiot. You got shot."

He was laughing again and Shinichi wished he could take that as reassuring, but he knew KID too well for that.

"I'm all right," Kaito said.

Shinichi's eyes flickered over to him, analyzing, but the color had returned to Kaito's face and he seemed calm and relaxed – not locked in the too-still tension of suppressed pain. Shinichi let out a quiet sigh and tipped his head back against the wall, letting his eyes close.

"Hey, you were really worried about me, weren't you," Kaito said and he sounded entirely too pleased.

"Worried enough that I went out looking for you," Shinichi admitted and Kaito blinked, taken aback.

 _He went looking for me? Just how quickly did he change his mind?_

"You're from Ekoda, right?" Shinichi asked, distracting him.

"Yeah…"

"And you know Nakamori-keibu, don't you." There was the barest hint of accusation in his voice and Kaito grinned mischievously.

"Yeah. I grew up with his daughter."

Shinichi laughed a little and dragged a hand over his face. "I am not sure what to do with that information," he sighed. "…What about a woman with red hair?"

Kaito suddenly went rigid and a few shades paler and Shinichi sat up, alarmed.

"Kaito?"

"Was her name Akako?" Kaito asked with some urgency.

"I don't know; she didn't give her name. She just stopped me on the street and told me not to look for you."

"Geez," Kaito breathed, slumping a little against the wall. "Are you okay? She didn't do anything weird to you, did she?"

"What? No. At least… I don't think so."

"Wait, but… How did she seem to you?"

Shinichi tilted his head slightly, still watching Kaito with concern. "What do you mean?"

"You know, was she… I don't know, utterly irresistible… or anything?"

"…What?"

"She's a witch, Shinichi," Kaito finally stated, the aggravation clear in his voice. "She's got this spell that's supposed to make all men fall for her."

 _Great,_ Kaito's brain told him. _Just great. Bring up witches to your fanatically logical detective boyfriend. See how long before he kicks you out of his house. Or has you arrested and institutionalized._ He risked a glance over at Shinichi. He was still staring at Kaito, but the concern had morphed into skepticism.

"A witch? Seriously?" _…What the hell have I gotten myself into here?_

"She _is_ ," he insisted, digging himself deeper. "I've seen what she can do first hand."

"But there's no such thing as–"

"Don't say there's no such thing as witches," Kaito said, dropping his head back against the wall. "Or magic. I used to believe that too, but there's enough going on out there that I am at least convinced there are things that can't be explained otherwise."

"There's always a logical explanation."

The words were like a memorized mantra. Something reliable and familiar.

"I agree," Kaito said. "And sometimes that explanation is magic."

"Look, Kaito–"

"You got turned into a six-year-old; are you seriously fighting me on this?"

"That was a _drug_ ," Shinichi countered quickly. He shifted a little, clearly uncomfortable with the sudden subject change. "I saw the labwork behind it while Haibara was working on the antidote. I'm not going to claim to understand it all, but I got the general idea."

"Yeah? What about conservation of mass? You couldn't have weighed twenty kilograms as Conan. Where did all that _go_?"

Shinichi's face went blank, his eyes wide but distant as he considered the question. "I… Huh."

"Exactly," Kaito said, relief bleeding slowly through him.

"Okay… Say I believe you," Shinichi allowed, though his tone heavily implied a strict hypothetical. "When I was leaving Ekoda, I somehow ended up on the wrong train. I thought I was just tired but then I saw that woman on the platform just as the doors were closing. You think she did something to make me get on that train?"

"A confusion spell or something, probably," Kaito said with a shrug.

"But why didn't she want me looking for you? I mean, how did she even _know_?"

"Well… It's even odds whether she was trying to protect me since you're a detective, trying to kill me since I'm hurt and you were trying to help, or just jealous and trying to keep you away from me 'cause she's still obsessed. It sort of depends on her mood and what exactly her red magic or whatever told her about you."

"What… exactly is your history with this girl?" Shinichi asked slowly, completely baffled. "Don't tell me the Organization's got witches hunting you too."

"No, no," Kaito said, waving him off. "She was a classmate. But like I said, she's got this spell that makes men fall all over themselves for her. I'm immune and her magic told her that the only man who could resist was Kaitou KID, so when I was able to turn her down…"

"She figured out that you're KID," Shinichi supplied.

"Right. From then on she bounced around between trying to get her spells to work on me, trying to kill me, and trying to protect my identity. There's no rhyme or reason to it; she's just crazy."

"Okay…" Shinichi said, taking in the information and turning it over, accepting it for the puzzle it presented. "Then why didn't it work on me?"

Kaito shrugged. "True love's kiss?" he suggested, eyebrows quirked.

"…You did not just say that."

Kaito's head tilted and his eyes went distant with thought. "You know, I was just kidding but that might actually be it." Shinichi gave him a flat look and he quickly clarified, "Not _literally_ … I don't think. Just, if I'm the only one who can resist the spell, you might have been able to resist it _for_ me. I'd still sort of be the source of the resistance that way."

"That seems like a stretch," Shinichi said. "Or hell, maybe not, what do I know? It's not like we have all the facts here. I can't even believe we're seriously discussing this like it's a rational thing that we could somehow figure out."

"Welcome to my world," Kaito said with a smirk. "You know, if you like, we could say you resisted the spell because I claimed you for myself and now you're under my protection." He grinned unashamedly and Shinichi's cheeks colored.

"Hey, nobody's _claiming_ anybody right now, okay?"

Kaito shrugged, still smiling. "Okay."

"…Are you sure you'd want to, anyway?" Shinichi asked, suddenly very interested in the far corner of the room.

"…What?"

"I… I don't know," he sighed. "I really screwed up with Ran… I mean, I still don't even know if we were actually _dating_." He straightened up a little and turned back to Kaito, meeting his eyes easily now. "I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into here. I'm not exactly boyfriend material." He stated it like it was fact and Kaito frowned. He sat in silence, just considering the detective beside him for an uncomfortably long time before he finally said, "I'll be the judge of that," and his tone said _case closed; no more to talk about._ Shinichi didn't get the hint.

"You're sure?"

Kaito sighed but there was a hint of a smile in his eyes. "You say you're not 'boyfriend material,' but I'm here, so that tells me you want to be. The fact that you brought it up tells me it's something you're concerned about. That means it matters to you." His face suddenly split with a grin and Shinichi blinked, bewildered. "I couldn't be happier!"

Confusion remained clear on Shinichi's face. He couldn't understand how the conversation had turned so suddenly. He'd thoroughly believed he was in the process of screwing things up again – though he hadn't been able to stop himself anyway – but now Kaito was smiling. Like he'd said something _right_.

 _That's new,_ Shinichi thought wryly.

Kaito could practically read the thoughts across Shinichi's face. "Don't worry, Tantei-kun," he said, sliding over slightly to lean his shoulder against Shinichi's. "I know what I'm 'getting into.'"

"Heh." Shinichi couldn't help but smile a little. "Okay. Then you know that as soon as I introduce you as my boyfriend to Agasa-hakase and Haibara, they're gonna know you're KID."

"Hm. The professor's cool, but what about the tiny scientist? Do I have anything to worry about?"

"…She thinks you're involved with the Organization."

"Aren't we all," he stated grimly.

"She doesn't trust you," Shinichi clarified. "I think she knows you're not actually one of them, but I'm guessing she thinks you used to be."

"I'm only nineteen; what kind of past could I possibly have with them?"

Shinichi glanced over at Kaito. He'd slunk down a little at some point and was resting his head against Shinichi's shoulder. "…You're the same age as Haibara," Shinichi said. "They start young, she's not wrong about that. And with someone as talented as you… You could easily have been in for years."

"So… is that what you think, too?" Kaito asked. He kept the question very carefully casual. "I mean, it does make a certain amount of sense. You don't know what my involvement with them is. You don't… _really_ know who I am… right?"

Shinichi stared hard at the mattress in front of him for a short time, thinking it over. When he spoke again Kaito could hear firm resolution in his voice. "You're the Kaitou KID," he said. "You may have a thousand masks but you can't hide your true nature when it really counts, and you and I have been through enough. I'm not wrong about you. You're not one of them, and you'd never be one of them. I'd stake my life on it." He glanced over at Kaito and caught his gaze, holding it steadily. "And I have."

Kaito could feel his face going pink, and he let it. "Geez, you're not even trying," he muttered. "That's just pure honest fact to you, isn't it."

"Am I wrong?" Shinichi asked, but the confidence behind the words said he didn't need an answer.

"Heh, no, I guess not." Kaito settled in a little closer against Shinichi with a small smile and closed his eyes.

Shinichi looked down at him, just watching him while his brain tripped over itself because yes, this was the Kaitou KID – the illustrious gentleman thief and magician under the moonlight – fearless and confident and impossible. This was _KID_ , and yet… Why wasn't this strange? He couldn't wrap his mind around how… _fine_ everything was right now with KID falling asleep against his shoulder. And he couldn't quite place why, but more than just being fine Shinichi actually had the impulse to hold on to KID – to keep him there with him. He blinked the thought away, feeling slightly uneasy, and focused again on Kaito. His eyes were still closed, his body relaxed and his breathing slowing subtly. Shinichi rolled his eyes with a faint smile.

"Come here," he murmured, and Kaito barely acknowledged the order, just allowing Shinichi to help ease him down onto the mattress. He was aware, to some degree, of Shinichi's warmth still close beside him, and made a small effort to rouse himself and open his eyes.

"Stupid thief," Shinichi muttered. "I told you you needed to rest."

Kaito's eyes remained closed, but the small smile returned. _Guess I shouldn't argue,_ he thought, but he couldn't dredge up the strength to voice it. He let go of any remaining resistance and slipped quickly off to sleep.

.

Haibara let herself into the Kudou manor with Agasa's spare key, carefully easing the door closed again behind her so that it wouldn't make a sound. Ran had been concerned. Shinichi was supposed to meet her to walk to school and he wasn't answering his phone, so Haibara was wary as she looked around the foyer.

Heading upstairs, she saw lights on in the library and moved cautiously inside. Shinichi's phone was lying on the seat of an armchair beside a worn copy of _The Sign of Four_ and Haibara picked it up. The battery was almost dead and there were three missed calls from Ran displayed on the lock screen. Her hand tensed around the phone and she went back out into the hallway, heading immediately for the open bedroom door. The light was on there as well and she edged up to the doorway to glance inside. What she saw there made her forget stealth and caution entirely.

Lying in Shinichi's bed, half curled on his side with his back to the door, was a young man with messy hair who Haibara knew instantly was _not_ Shinichi. Because Shinichi was asleep right beside him, lying on his back with his bedmate tucked close against his side. She stopped short in the doorway, staring as a blush warmed her face before she could get a hold of herself, but once she did she padded into the room, light, stockinged footsteps silent on the floor as she walked right up to the bed.

"My, my. You certainly move fast, Kudou-kun," she said, folding her arms. As she had expected, the stranger in the bed jolted awake, sitting up much too quickly. A cry caught in his throat and he folded forward, clutching at his side. "Good morning, KID," Haibara said. "Sleep well?"

"Kaito?" Shinichi propped himself up on one elbow, rubbing at his eyes. Then he very suddenly processed the fact that Kaito was hunched over beside him and sat up quickly, his hand going out to grip Kaito's shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?"

"You know, there are certain strenuous activities you should probably avoid while recovering from a gunshot wound." Haibara shrugged. "But I guess it's none of my business."

The two boys in the bed both picked up on her implications at the same time, and both blinked back at her, suddenly pink-faced. Her hand went to her mouth to cover a small laugh that might even have qualified as a giggle.

"H-Haibara, what are you doing here?" Shinichi demanded, making a pathetic attempt at kicking away the extra blanket he'd gone to get during the night since they had fallen asleep on top of the bedding.

"Mouri-san was worried about you. You weren't answering your phone." She tossed his cell phone over to him without warning and he just barely managed to catch it. "Oh, and you're late for school," she added with a smirk. Shinichi grimaced but didn't respond turning his attention instead to Kaito who was being unusually still and quiet again.

"Hey," he said, more firmly this time. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Kaito answered, and it sounded like the truth but Shinichi wasn't convinced. "I promise," he insisted. He straightened a little, hoping to ease the uncertainty on Shinichi's face. "I'm okay."

Haibara, still just standing next to the bed watching them with some amusement, made a derisive little sound and rolled her eyes.

"Is there… something you need from me?" Shinichi asked in a fairly obvious _why are you still here_ kind of way.

"No," she answered with a smirk. "Just taking in the fact that Kudou Shinichi is sleeping with Kaitou KID." There was something gleeful in Haibara's eyes as Shinichi's face went bright red again, but this time Kaito just smiled a little, only blushing faintly.

"W-We're not–" Shinichi started, but Kaito cut him off.

"She's not wrong, Tantei-kun. I know _I_ was asleep," he countered with a grin.

Shinichi breathed out a small laugh, relaxing enough to notice how Kaito's hand had tensed over his side, his back rigid as he tried not to move in any way that would aggravate his wound.

"Stay here," he said, edging around Kaito to get out of the bed. "I think I have some pain killers somewhere."

Haibara followed Shinichi into the hallway, casting just a quick glance back at Kaito as she left the room.

"I know what you're going to say, and I don't care," Shinichi said to her as he dug through a drawer of pill bottles in the bathroom. Half of them were expired. He began tossing each failure he picked up into the small garbage can by the sink and they hit with a noisy clatter. "I trust him."

"Obviously," Haibara pointed out. "Look, I'm not your mother. Do what you want."

"So glad to have your blessing," Shinichi muttered sarcastically. He finally secured an appropriate bottle and filled a cup from the sink with water,

"I'm not going to say I trust your judgment," she added, following him back out of the bathroom again. She made no attempt to lower her voice and Shinichi was certain Kaito would be able to hear from the room just down the hall. "But you're not completely stupid. I'm going to school. Have fun with your thief."

Shinichi paused outside his bedroom to watch her go. She stopped before rounding the corner and turned back to him. "Oh, and really? You call him 'kaitou'?"

"That's… actually his name," Shinichi said, blushing again. He could practically _feel_ Kaito smiling at him from the bed.

"…Of course it is," Haibara replied. She tossed out a quick wave and disappeared around the corner and Shinichi ducked back into his room.

"That," he sighed. "Was awkward. Here." He handed over the pill bottle and set the cup on his bedside table.

"Thanks." Kaito tipped two pills into his hand, then, after a slight pause, shook out a third before setting the bottle aside. Shinichi sat down beside him and picked up his phone, sighing at the time displayed on the screen.

"I guess she was right though; I should probably get to school. You can stay here if you want."

"What?" Kaito said, almost choking as he swallowed the pills. "You're still gonna go to school today?"

"Well yeah…"

Kaito pushed out a sigh, looking impressively dejected and Shinichi's forehead crinkled with confusion. "…I guess I really should too," Kaito muttered.

Shinichi scoffed. "Injured people should rest." He got up and went to his closet, pulling out his school uniform.

"Haven't I told you I'm fine? Look – pills, well rested, fine."

"You can't even stand up," Shinichi said, and he didn't bother to pretend he wasn't rolling his eyes at him.

"Says you," Kaito shot back, sounding proud about it somehow even though he didn't make any move to get up from the bed. "Anyway, lying around is boring. If you're going to school I might as well too."

Shinichi abruptly shoved the hanger with his uniform back onto the rack in his closet and rounded on Kaito, his face set with the same kind of gravity Kaito was used to seeing only when the detective was deeply concerned, usually about something dire – when he wanted KID to listen to him and take him seriously.

"Would you listen to me?" Shinichi said and Kaito hid a smile. "This is serious. You were sneaking around and running around and getting dragged around all night at that heist and then you _flew away_ and came _here_ and _left_ again and it's just–"

"I'm stressing you out," Kaito put in helpfully.

Shinichi folded his arms, leveling Kaito with an unimpressed look. "Yeah," he said. "You're stressing me out." _Like_ that's _the problem._

"Okay, so what do you _want_ me to do?" Kaito asked, and it was clear he was enjoying himself now.

"What I _want_ you to do is stay here–" Shinichi said, but he suddenly cut himself off, like he hadn't quite meant to say that exactly. His face went just faintly pink and Kaito smiled up at him.

"Actually, that's what I want too. I mean, I want _you_ to stay here too. I was kind of hoping… we could just talk some more?"

Shinichi stared as Kaito ducked his head a little, smile turning somewhat sheepish as his cheeks colored. He was quiet for a few long moments before he sighed and went to the bed again, snatching up his phone and opening a text to Ran to tell her he was skipping today.

"You… are _such_ a bad influence," he muttered to Kaito as he typed, but Kaito was grinning and the corners of Shinichi's mouth were twitching up even as he sent the text and switched the phone to silent, reaching over to plug it in to the charger by his bed before abandoning it on the bedside table. Kaito scooted over a little so Shinichi could sit up by the pillows with him.

"So," he said, settling in. "Where did you want to start?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Case 10 – The First**

.

"Man, you were not kidding. Your parents are _never_ around." Kaito kicked up into a handstand and managed to take just a few steps on his hands before wincing and rolling smoothly down to lay on his back on the floor, his hand moving over his side lightly.

"Are you _capable_ of just taking it easy? It's barely been three weeks," Shinichi said, glancing down at him from his seat on the couch where he'd been reading a book for school when Kaito had unexpectedly shown up in his sitting room. It made him wonder, not for the first time, what exactly he'd gotten himself into with this relationship, but he had yet to feel any regret about it, so he supposed it didn't really matter.

"I _am_ taking it easy," Kaito promised for what felt like the hundredth time. He wasn't used to people fussing over him, usually because he never let them know anything was wrong, but still, it was nice to know Shinichi cared enough to ask things like that. "I'm skipping classes wherever I can afford to and I'm being careful at work and I get plenty of rest at home the rest of the time." He gave Shinichi a soft smile from the floor.

Shinichi sighed. "By any normal person's standards that's not really 'taking it easy' when you've been shot, but I guess for you that's probably the best I can hope for." He flicked a page over in his book and gave it another disinterested glance. It really was better than grade school homework, but it was still boring. "Anyway, I told you, my parents moved to America. I only see them whenever they happen to visit… which is usually out of the blue and completely unannounced. I've been pretty much on my own since I was fourteen."

Kaito's eyebrows pulled down over a small frown as he considered that. Shinichi apparently didn't think much of his parents' absence – like it was normal or something. True, Chikage traveled a lot, but she always came home after a few weeks, and even when she was away, they'd talk almost every day. Shinichi didn't seem to get so much as a phone call from his parents – not that he seemed to want one. Kaito tucked his hands behind his head and stared thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "I just can't imagine that," he said.

Shinichi gave up pretending to read and set the book aside. "What's your family like?"

"It's just me and my mom," Kaito answered easily. "Oyaji was…" He stopped and Shinichi saw the moment of deliberation on his face before he abruptly came to a decision. "You know what?" he said, tilting his head back to give Shinichi a cheery, upside-down smile. "Do you wanna come see my place?"

.

They took a taxi to Kaito's house on Shinichi's insistence. The little house was surprisingly ordinary-looking, and he recognized the junky car parked there as one he'd seen out front of the hospital the night Nakamori had been attacked, but he didn't comment, having decided to let the issues of that night go. He followed Kaito through the door.

"Duck," Kaito said casually, and Shinichi ducked immediately, more on edge than he'd realized to be walking into Kaitou KID's house.

Apparently, his instincts were not misplaced. Kaito reached over him and adjusted something on a shelf just inside the door. When Shinichi looked back at it, there was nothing strange he could see, but he noticed Kaito making similar adjustments as he moved farther into the house. Shinichi yanked off his shoes and followed after him, glancing around carefully as he went.

"Here," Kaito said. He went into his room and dragged a box out of his closet, pulled a large envelope from it, and handed it to Shinichi.

"What's this?" He took it and, after a pointed nod from Kaito, opened it to pull out a thin stack of papers – newspaper clippings, magazine articles, even printouts and a few old photographs. Each seemed to be centered around the famous magician Kuroba Toichi.

Shinichi's eyes flickered up from the pages to Kaito who had eased himself onto the bed and was leaning back against the wall. He gave Shinichi a small smile that did not reach his eyes and Shinichi hesitantly went back to the articles, scanning through them until he came to the last in the stack, from a newspaper dated almost eleven years ago. He stared down at it for a long time in silence, reading the cold, distant description of a stage accident that had taken the great magician's life. When he reached the end and looked again at Kaito, the thief's face was a blank mask.

"This… wasn't actually an accident," Shinichi stated.

Kaito's eyes shifted over to Shinichi's face and he gave one slow, carefully controlled nod.

"He was the first Kaitou KID."

Another nod.

Realization sank in slowly, turning his stomach as the full effect of it hit him. "…This is why you make a target out of yourself. You're not just looking for something. You're trying to lure them out. You're…" He dropped into the desk chair, setting the papers carefully aside, his mind racing to pull all of the pieces together.

"Tell me you haven't been doing this alone," Shinichi demanded. "Tell me _someone_ knows what you've been doing all this time."

"My old man's assistant," Kaito said. "He helps me out on a lot of my heists. And my mom knows too."

Shinichi dragged a hand over his face and leaned back against the chair. "You really are insane."

"Why?" Kaito snapped and Shinichi actually jumped a little. He had never seen Kaito – or KID – react so defensively to anything before. He opened his mouth to elaborate but defeated himself at every turn and in the end found nothing worth voicing. Really, Kaito wasn't doing anything he wouldn't have done himself, but he didn't apologize for what he'd said and he didn't take it back. Instead, he just said, "I want to hear the whole story."

There was no criticism or judgment in the words. There was no demand or force to them. Just an earnest desire to know the truth. Kaito stared back in silence for a long while, and Shinichi waited, but eventually he relaxed and let the small, sad smile return as he began the story.

"It started in Paris, twenty-one years ago…"


	11. Chapter 11

**Case 11 – Circus**

.

Shinichi wrote in the last answer on his calculus homework and shoved it over into the pile with his completed physics, Japanese, and English assignments. With a sigh, he reached for his history homework and Kaito sat up abruptly from where he'd been lying on Shinichi's bed.

"I think it's time you took a break," he proclaimed, hopping up to slip his arms around Shinichi from behind and drag him back, chair and all, away from his desk.

"I missed more than two and half years of school, Kaito," Shinichi argued, though he didn't fight Kaito's hold. "It took a lot of connections and promises to get me back in, and if I'm going to graduate when I'm actually _supposed_ to, I've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Seems kind of ridiculous," Kaito muttered. "Everybody knows you're a genius, and you clearly have the knowledge and skill set you need to succeed in both your chosen profession and in life in general. Why is graduating high school so important?"

"Of all the things in our lives that could be called ridiculous, I don't think high school really ranks," Shinichi said with a smirk, glancing over his shoulder at Kaito.

"Hm? Like what then?"

Shinichi thought for a few moments. "Like that guy who had plastic surgery to make himself look like me so he could frame me for a crime."

"…The weirdest stuff happens to you," Kaito said, accepting it. "What else should I know about?"

"Happens to _me_?" Shinichi countered incredulously. "You had a witch in your high school class!"

"Oh, is this a competition?" He let Shinichi go and Shinichi spun the chair around to see the laughter in Kaito's eyes. He crossed his arms and shrugged. "I once drove a car through a window on the observation deck of the Tohto Tower," he stated matter-of-factly.

"…Would a car fit through those windows–?"

"I made it fit," Kaito said with a wicked grin. "Come on; what have you got?"

"Heh, okay. I saved Two-Mix from a fire."

"I saved a princess from boredom. Although, as I recall, I'd say the weirder thing might be that you ended up _on stage_ with Two-Mix, Edogawa-san." Kaito grinned as Shinichi's face went bright red. "I assume the two were related incidences."

"You were at that concert," Shinichi interpreted, ducking his head slightly and covering his face with a hand.

"Sure was!"

"Okay. Fine. Yes, that was me. We will never speak of this again."

"Whatever you say~!" Kaito said, still grinning broadly. "Well then, what else?"

Shinichi pushed out a sigh, leaning back in the chair again. "Okay. I got trapped in a virtual world by an artificial intelligence."

Kaito's eyebrows rose up, but he nodded thoughtfully. "I got kidnapped by a mad scientist who tried to replace me with a robot. It was… disturbing."

"Wow… You got kidnapped? I'd love to meet the guy who managed to get the better of you."

"Hey, I was just starting out, give me a break."

"Heh, all right. Raised a sunken pirate ship."

"Hey, me too!" Kaito said.

"No kidding? What are the odds…"

Kaito went to the bed again and sat down. "Well, like you said, our lives are just sort of ridiculous."

"True enough." He cast a sidelong glance at Kaito and said with a smirk, "Got turned into a six-year-old."

"…Yeah, that was pretty weird; I got nothing on that," Kaito said and Shinichi laughed. Kaito watched him with satisfaction. It was rare that Shinichi could talk about his time as Conan without something of a bitter, fearful cloud hovering over him, but little by little it seemed he was healing.

"Okay, how 'bout this one," Shinichi said. "Saved an airship from fake bio-terrorists."

Kaito grinned. "That was a fun one, wasn't it?"

"Your idea of fun is seriously twisted, you know that?" Shinichi laughed.

"Hey, as far as I can figure, our lives are gonna keep throwing us these crazy situations – I might as well enjoy it." His expression shifted a little, taking on the slightly manic edge of the KID grin and Shinichi rolled his eyes, shaking his head but still smiling.

"Hey… I've been meaning to ask," he said. "I've been thinking lately about what Hakuba-kun said at the Noda mansion. About how the Organization's been really active lately? Do you think there's a reason?"

To Shinichi's surprise, Kaito's expression turned suddenly sheepish and he laughed a little. "Maybe…"

"…What did you do," Shinichi said.

"No! It's just… I had been pulling a lot more heists than usual. I think it made them nervous." He shifted a little under Shinichi's scrutinizing gaze.

"More heists, huh? So, _should_ they be nervous?" he asked.

"What?"

"Why the extra heists?"

"Oh…" Kaito's eyes edged away from Shinichi. "Heh, no reason really–"

"No way," Shinichi shot back, leaning forward in his chair. Kaito made the mistake of glancing back over at him and met his eyes – intense and unyielding. He couldn't look away. "You have a reason. Tell me."

"…Geez, enough already," he eventually said, his face warming. "I was worried about you. After that mess at that Organization compound… I guess I was just kind of hoping you'd show up, you know?"

Shinichi blinked and sat back again slightly, eyes wide, but he never looked away from Kaito.

"…Quit staring, would you?" Kaito muttered, his face completely red now.

Shinichi blinked again, clearly pulled from some engrossing thought, and his face softened with a small smile. "Hey," he said, spinning his chair back around and reaching for his homework again, taking the pressure off of Kaito. "There's something I need to take care of at the police station after school tomorrow, okay? I'll probably be back late."

This time it was Kaito blinking bemusedly before he realized he'd been showing up at Shinichi's house so often and just expecting him to be there… He got up, coming up behind Shinichi again silently and leaning over his shoulder to place a light kiss on his cheek. He stayed close, smiling at the faint blush he'd caused, and murmured, "Thanks for letting me know."


	12. Chapter 12

**Case 12 – Friends**

.

"Come on, Aoko," Kaito whined into the phone. "It's been forever since the two of us hung out. Can we please not make this a third wheel thing?"

"You know I'd never think of you as a third wheel, Kaito," Aoko replied patiently.

"Of course not, I was talking about Hakuba."

"Kaito!"

"Come on, just say yes, okay?"

Aoko heaved a longsuffering sigh. "Fine, Bakaito. I'll meet you at the clock tower and don't you dare be late." She hung up and Kaito laughed a little, staring down at his phone. _The clock tower, huh?_

.

He arrived early, just to be safe, and draped himself over a park bench with a good view of the clock tower. A deck of cards appeared as he stared up at it and they flickered between his hands and through his fingers, the tricks so familiar that he didn't have to think about them.

Instead, he thought about the first time he'd come to the tower. He'd been waiting for his father and had ended up meeting Aoko for the first time. Which of course led to the clock tower heist years later… where he'd met Shinichi for the first time. He grinned to himself, exceedingly pleased that he'd succeeded in saving the tower. It was important to begin with. Now it was only more so. That had been the first heist Shinichi had ever attended, and possibly one of the last cases Shinichi had been on before he'd disappeared and "Conan" had taken the scene.

He hadn't seen Shinichi again until the Black Star heist, and even then had only really acknowledged the similarities after getting caught by the little detective down in the engine room of the ship. He'd started to look into it after that, but came up with nothing on Edogawa Conan, and a sudden and mysterious lack of information on Kudou Shinichi after a certain point. The famous high school detective that had always had his nose in every difficult case around and his face in every newspaper had gone suddenly silent, vanished from the spotlight. And it seemed too fantastic a thing to imagine, but the child really seemed to have taken his place.

And the night Kaito had confirmed his suspicions outside the Mouri Detective Agency, standing in the rain disguised as Kudou Shinichi himself, was the night he'd realized there was a lot more to the Great Detective of the East than could be seen in his showy case solving and arrogant confidence. It was also the night he'd realized with full force that the organization that killed his father was still actively tearing apart people's lives all around him, and still going unseen. And it was painful. Just remembering that night made something in his chest burn with the impatient desire to rip apart that organization and leave every one of its members shattered.

The cards arched sharply between Kaito's fingers, climbing over each other, two streams moving in opposite directions until they settled into his hands again and vanished altogether.

"Whoa…" said a young voice in amazement and Kaito's eyes came back down from the top of the clock tower to see three kids lined up in front of the bench where he was sitting. His eyebrows lifted in surprise when he found he recognized them. "You guys…?" he murmured, bemused, but while KID had met these particular three children several times, Kaito had not, so he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and grinned at them. "You guys like magic?" he asked.

"How did you do that? Before, with the cards?"

"Hm? You mean this?" Kaito produced the deck again, but this time, as he arched the cards from one hand to the other, three cards jumped up and out of the stream. The rest of the deck disappeared and he picked the three extras out of the air before they had the chance to fall. The children were all gasping with delight. "It's a secret, Genta-kun," he said, winking.

"Hey, how did you know his name?" the other boy in the group asked.

"The cards told me," Kaito said simply. "Take a look." He turned the three cards over and on each one a name was written – Ayumi's across the queen of hearts, Mitsuhiko's on the king of diamonds, and Genta's on the king of clubs. All three of them drew in slightly, gathering around the cards with little sounds of wonder.

"It's the funniest thing though," Kaito continued after a moment of debate with himself. He stacked the three cards neatly together again, turned them around, and when he turned them back again they had become one card, the ace of spades, and Conan's name was written across it. "It seems like there's someone missing."

The children all paused at that, staring at the card. "Conan-kun…" Ayumi muttered. The smiles had faded from all of their faces.

"Where did he go?" Kaito asked gently.

"He had to move away. Overseas, to be with his parents," Mitsuhiko explained.

"Well that's good, isn't it? Aren't you happy for him?"

"Of course!" Ayumi said, determined about it. "It's just…"

"We miss him," Mitsuhiko finished, hands in his pockets, looking at the grass.

Kaito smiled. "Well of course you do; he's your friend! But you know, friends stay friends no matter where they go. And you'll keep making friends with new people all the time. Like me!" He slipped down off of the bench to take a knee in front of Ayumi and produced a pink rose from nowhere, offering it to her with a soft smile. "So don't be sad, okay you three?"

There was a beat of silence, but then Mitsuhiko gave a determined nod and Genta called out "Right!" They both looked to Ayumi, hopeful, and she smiled a little and took the rose.

"Besides," Mitsuhiko added. "It's not like we never hear from him."

Kaito blinked dumbly back at him. "Huh?" he said.

"Yeah, he usually answers when we call him," Genta said, and Kaito was laughing inside though on the surface he only grinned. _Aw, Shinichi, I never knew you had such a soft spot for these kids. I guess that voice-changer's still coming in handy, huh?_

"See," Kaito said wisely. "Good friends never really go away after all, do they?" In the distance behind the children, Kaito spotted Aoko coming around the corner of the clock tower station. "Speaking of," he said. "I'm meeting an old friend here today. Her name's Aoko and she's right over there." He pointed over at her. She had just spotted him and was waving as she headed their way.

Genta turned back to Kaito with a sly smile and said in a teasing tone, "She your girlfriend?" His pinky was sticking out and he was grinning mischievously but Kaito only laughed.

"No, but I should introduce you guys to my detective sometime. I think you'd really like him."

"Your…?" Ayumi started.

"Detective?" Mitsuhiko finished, head tilting.

"That's right," Kaito said, grinning. "Kudou Shinichi, best detective around."

"Ah! Shinichi-oniisan?" Ayumi gasped, and Kaito put on a confused face.

"You know him?"

Ayumi nodded. "Conan-kun used to talk about him all the time."

"Hey Kaito," Aoko said, coming up beside him. She smiled down at the kids. "Hello."

Kaito bounced to his feet. "Aoko! Let me introduce you. This is the famous Junior Detective League: Ayumi-chan, Mitsuhiko-kun, and Genta-kun!" There was a small _pop_ and confetti rained down over all five of them. Aoko laughed.

"Junior Detective League, huh?" she said, beaming. "That's great! My dad's an inspector."

"Ah, but… Onii-san, how did you know about–?" Mitsuhiko started.

"It says so on your badges, doesn't it?" Kaito answered. "And like I said, you guys are famous. I've read about you in the paper."

Wide grins broke out over each of the three young faces, the children flushed and positively beaming with pride and happiness.

"Well, famous detectives, I've got to go. I shouldn't keep the lady waiting, right? But here…" He produced another card, this one blank with a KID caricature drawn on the blue backing, and the names Yoshida Ayumi, Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko, Kojima Genta, Haibara Ai, Edogawa Conan, Kudou Shinichi, and Kuroba Kaito all written together in a swirled pattern on the front. He handed it to them and all three peered down at it curiously. Ayumi gasped.

"Ai-chan's on here too!" she said, pointing to the name.

"Of course she is; she's your friend too, isn't she? Like I said, the cards know everything!" he proclaimed with a wink.

"Kuroba Kaito…?" Mitsuhiko read slowly from the card.

"That's me!" Kaito said, sweeping out a bow. "Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire. I'm sure you'll be seeing me around." He smiled warmly at them and Ayumi suddenly held her hand up, the other still clutching the rose, and said, "Promise?" She held up her pinky and she was blushing slightly but she met his eyes with determination.

Kaito grinned back at her but it was soft, and he crouched down to link their pinkies. "Promise," he said.

Ayumi's face lit up and she gave a quick nod. Then, smiling and laughing, the kids ran off, and Kaito overheard Ayumi say, "Let's call Conan-kun right now!" which was met with hearty agreement.

 _Whoops,_ Kaito thought, laughing a little. _Hope whatever Shinichi's doing today leaves room for a phone call._

Aoko's fist bopped lightly on the top of his head, pulling him from his thoughts. "You really can't help yourself, can you?" she said, and she was smiling, her eyes warm and dancing with amusement.

"What?" he said innocently.

"Making new friends here…" Her gaze shifted up to the clock face and Kaito smiled and gave a small shrug.

"That's right." A blue rose sprung up between his fingers and he offered it to her, grinning. "Kuroba Kaito. Nice to meet you."

Aoko laughed and obligingly took the flower. "So what have you been up to?" she asked as they started a lazy circuit around the tower. "Impromptu magic shows for random kids in the park?" There was a hint of teasing and Kaito was grateful for how comfortable it felt.

"Not as random as they could be," he said. "I've seen them around. See… I caught myself a boyfriend, and they tend to hang around him a lot. But that's actually what I wanted to tell you about today. Wanted you to be the first to know. You know, besides Kaa-san." He was grinning at her, his hands stuffed in his pockets and looking just the slightest bit sheepish and she stopped short to stare at him before abruptly starting forward again, her face thoughtful. Kaito, who had also stopped to blink back at her, jumped to catch up. When he was beside her again she cast a sly smirk in his direction. "Really? Who'd go out with you?" she teased.

"Hey," Kaito laughed. "Come on, I'm charming!"

"Sure, sure." She waved a lazy hand, brushing away the defense. "So who is he? Someone from the college?"

Kaito shook his head. "He's actually just finishing up high school. His name's Kudou Shinichi."

Aoko's head whipped back around toward Kaito. "Wait, high school detective Kudou Shinichi? Great Detective of the East, Kudou Shinichi?"

"Yep!"

" _You're_ dating a _detective,_ " she said, as if this should make him realize something.

"Yeah, so?"

"You _do_ know he's trying to catch KID, don't you?"

Kaito just gave an offhand shrug.

"Well, maybe this will be good for you," Aoko said thoughtfully. "Maybe he'll finally get you on the right side. He _is_ pretty impressive actually. Did you know he was at the clock tower heist? No way was KID getting away with stealing this clock with him there. Not that my dad didn't already have it covered, of course."

Kaito cast her a sour look that he made absolutely no attempt to hide. _Stupid, I_ did _steal it. If I hadn't it wouldn't even be here right now._

"I'll have to meet this Kudou Shinichi officially of course, before I pass my final judgment," Aoko went on, mostly ignoring him. Her hands were linked behind her back as she walked, the rose twirling as she rolled the stem between her fingers. "Make sure he's a good person and all that." Kaito didn't bother holding back a scoff and Aoko glanced over at him. "What?"

He was quiet for a few seconds but then a smile came over his face, small and warm. "He's a good person," he said, and Aoko did not miss the fondness that had crept into the words.

"Aw, you really like him!" she said, grinning. "You should have brought him along today!"

"He said he had something to take care of at the police station," Kaito said, shrugging causally and trying to hide the faint blush that had risen to his face at Aoko's joyous exclamation.

"Well, congratulations, Kaito," she said warmly. "I'm happy for you. You know, conditionally. I _will_ meet him and pass judgment."

Her eyes had gone narrow, a steeled glint reflecting off of them. Kaito cringed and made a mental note to hide any mops in the vicinity whenever the day came for Aoko to meet Shinichi. Just in case.


	13. Chapter 13

**Case 13 – Chase**

.

The afternoon of December 24th, Shinichi followed Megure, Takagi, and Sato through the sliding glass doors of the Akiyama Convention Center and they all paused to look up at the enormous Christmas tree that was glittering in the bright white afternoon sun shining through the domed glass ceiling of the lobby.

"It looks a little out of place here, doesn't it?" Sato said.

Shinichi had to agree. The convention center was a fairly modern-looking building – all glass and chrome and white walls with gleaming grey floor tiles flecked with silver. The great green tree, dressed in warm gold and rich crimson, clashed with the scene blatantly.

To their left, several doors were propped open leading into the large event room where the fifth annual Souma Designs Christmas Eve Charity Auction would be held later that night. Volunteers rushed in and out of the room as everyone worked to set up, but Shinichi recognized a few of the people standing out of the way off to the side as officers from the Kaitou KID task force.

"I'm going to take a look around," Shinichi said, already running off with a quick wave to Megure, Sato, and Takagi. As he passed by the task force officers, one of them broke away from the group and caught up with him where he had paused just inside the event room.

"Good to see you, Kudou-kun," she said. "I didn't know you'd be here today."

"Hey, Amane-keiji. Yeah, I saw the notice in the newspaper and thought I'd come check it out." He looked out across the vast stretch of the room. A tight cluster of people were focused around the stage at one end, building an extension out into the middle of the room that would serve as a catwalk for the celebrities who had volunteered to model the donated items that would be up for auction, while out on the floor others were setting up cushioned chairs from tall stacks that had been carted in from storage. With so many staff and volunteers milling about, any one of them could easily have been KID in disguise, or he may have long since come and gone, having made his preparations beforehand. Shinichi's eyes darted over the room, taking in all he could on the big-picture level before moving farther inside to get a closer look.

He didn't make it five steps before a stylish woman with dark skin and a perfect plume of black curls pinned up on the side of her head came up to him and Amane. "How is everything looking, Amane-san?" she asked.

"So far, so good," Amane answered. "Let me introduce you. Kudou-kun, this is Souma Shinobu-san; she's the director of the auction and the owner of KID's target tonight. Souma-san, this is Kudou Shinichi-kun; he'll be working with us for the heist, though it may be more accurate to say we'll be working with him."

"You're that good, huh?" Shinobu said with a bright smile. "Glad to hear it. It's nice to meet you, Kudou-kun."

"Likewise," Shinichi said. "You're an independent jewelry designer, right?"

"I see you did your research. Yes; I designed a few of the pieces that will be up for auction tonight, as well as this little darling." She raised a gloved hand to indicate the ornate silver hair pin holding up her tumble of curls. It was studded with pearls and accented with small diamonds that glittered with each movement. "KID's target," she said. "But really I'm less concerned about having this stolen and more concerned with tonight going well. I'm afraid proceeds and attendance for the auction have been declining somewhat since I started the program five years ago." She shrugged a little. "Lost its novelty, I guess. I just hope Kaitou KID doesn't disrupt the event. If proceeds are down again this year, I'm not sure I'll be able to justify setting it up again next year."

"We'll do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen," Amane offered, but Shinichi saw a small amount of pity in her eyes. He knew what she was probably thinking – that KID would do as he liked and there was very little anyone would be able to do about it.

"Do you mind if I take a look around?" Shinichi asked. "I'll stay out of the way."

"Of course; by all means," Shinobu answered. "I need to get back to work myself. It was nice to meet you." She excused herself and Amane also turned for the door.

"I'll leave you to it, Kudou-kun," she said. "Nakamori-keibu isn't coming today – Aoko-san insisted he not miss another Christmas – so I'm heading up the force tonight."

"Congratulations," Shinichi told her. "And good luck."

She smiled and Shinichi caught just a hint of nervousness about her. "Thanks," she said, and headed back out into the lobby.

Shinichi turned his focus back to the event room and started a circuit around it to check the walls. There were spaces every so often where folded divider panels were stored when the whole room was in use at once. Someone could hide there if they really wanted to, but it would be a tight squeeze – not very maneuverable and basically like being trapped in a corner. He shook his head slightly. _KID would never go for something like that._

He finished his circuit and cut across the room to take another look behind the stage where several people were hauling out the last of the pieces for the catwalk extension from underneath it. There was another set of doors on this end of the room that would be blocked to attendees but used by the event coordinators and participants in the show to come and go behind the scenes – they would need to keep a close eye on those.

Shinichi leaned over to peer curiously at the dark, empty space beneath the stage. "Hm." He clicked on the flashlight in his watch and ducked under, oblivious to the bemused looks he was getting as a few of the staff and volunteers watched him out of the corners of their eyes. There wasn't space enough to stand up straight, but he could still walk if he ducked down some. He did a thorough sweep of the space – there were a few clusters of wire for stage lights and sound but nothing out of the ordinary, a few extra pieces for stage extensions, a short, portable staircase… He turned his light upward, casting it on the ceiling of the storage space.

"Excuse me," Shinichi said, coming abruptly out from under the stage and startling a nearby staff member. "Is this space normally used for anything other than storage?"

"Uh, no," he answered.

"Hm," Shinichi said, and he ducked back down again and disappeared.

When he resurfaced a few moments later, he headed up onto the stage, his eyes scanning over every detail. He paused at the center, glancing down, noting the cables clipped along the skirting at the front of the stage, then, satisfied, headed back out into the lobby.

Amane had gathered the task force officers together before the large tree and Shinichi tried not to think about the last time he'd happened to be present for such a gathering, but Amane wasn't attempting to make a motivational speech, or to stand above the other officers like Yasuda had. She was simply shouting to be heard by the lot of them as she directed them as to which channel to set their radios to so that they could all keep in contact with one another. They dispersed shortly after and Shinichi went up to her.

"Sorry to bother you, Amane-keiji, but do you have any extra radios? I'd like to be in contact with the task force tonight."

Amane smiled, agreeing readily. "Sure," she said. "Kazeno-kun, would you mind grabbing another radio for me?"

A man in glasses ran off to fetch it and Shinichi watched him go – and didn't notice Amane reaching for him until she'd already pinched his cheek hard and started pulling. Shinichi let out a startled yelp and staggered toward her, immediately rubbing the sore spot once she'd let go.

"Sorry, Kudou-kun, just had to be sure."

"Heh, I understand," he said. _I guess I can't exactly tell her it's no good using that test on me. Really, it'd be better if no one else finds out KID and I look so similar. It would just be more evidence against Kaito._

… _What the hell am I thinking?_ he thought, though by now he was mostly resigned to effectively being the thief's accomplice, come what may.

Amane was jotting something on a pocket notepad when Kazeno returned with the extra radio. She took it from him and handed it to Shinichi. "We're using channel six," she said. "Let me know if you need anything else; we'll be happy to coordinate with you."

"Actually, I'd like to get a rundown of the layout of the place–"

Before he could ask who he should talk to, Amane pointed across the lobby to where Megure, Sato, and Takagi were gathered beside a curved glass and metal staircase with a few task force officers and a woman in a business suit.

"That's what they're doing now."

"Great, thanks."

Shinichi hurried off to join them, and as he crossed the lobby he glanced down at the note Amane had slipped to him with the radio: _6 = 2, in case KID is listening._ Shinichi smirked and tucked the note carefully away. _So the channel she announced was a fake,_ he thought, setting his radio to channel two. _She's pretty good. KID is gonna have to watch his back tonight._

"There are five skywalks; you can see the entrances marked on the second level prints with this symbol here," the businesswoman was explaining to the officers when Shinichi walked up. They were all holding copies of a simplified blueprint, and all of them had similar looks of consternation on their faces as the woman continued. "As you can see, this one is more of a bridge, forking at the end here and letting out in Sunset Hotel on this end here." She flicked at her own print with the end of her pen, holding it up in front of her chest for them to see. "Then if you look at the sublevel…" She rotated her pages, putting a different schematic in front. "There are six tunnels – one each to the surrounding four hotels and one to the other building of the convention center, same as the skywalks, then an additional one to the parking garage as well."

"He could go _anywhere_ ," Takagi said, cringing a little as he examined his pages more closely.

"He could come from anywhere, too," Sato said with a sigh. "I see why they requested more hands but even so, this will be nearly impossible."

"Not necessarily," Shinichi said, hand at his chin as he peered over Megure's shoulder at the layout. Everyone looked up at him, so engrossed in the plans that they hadn't noticed him walk up. "See, if he _does_ take any of these skywalks or tunnels it'll be pretty easy to block them off at either end and trap him. There aren't many options for escape once he's in one."

Takagi looked relieved until Sato pointed out, "But we can't predict which one he'll use and we just don't have the manpower to block off every entrance."

"You won't have to," Shinichi assured her with a smirk. "Just leave it to me."

.

As the sun went down that evening, the lobby of the Akiyama Convention Center took on a warm glow. The normal house lights were dimmed for the occasion, softening the modern décor and drawing attention to the twinkling lights in the tree and the garland around the railings of the staircase. The lights reflected on the polished floor and the glass ceiling making the whole room into a field of stars.

"It's beautiful!" Ran said, looking around at it all as she, Kogoro, and Sonoko walked inside.

"I know, it's always _so_ classy," Sonoko replied. Then her voice took on a dreamy quality. "It's the perfect setting for a romantic meeting with my KID-sama," she sighed. "I even brought mistletoe just in case!" She gave Ran a wink.

"Honestly, Sonoko," Ran scolded without much hope of it making any difference at all. "What would Kyogoku-kun say?"

"What do I keep telling you, Ran? My KID-sama is a private matter," she said, hands fisted on her hips. "Oh, hey, isn't that your husband over there?"

Ran turned to look behind her and saw Shinichi heading their way. "Stop it, Sonoko," she half begged. "I told you, we're not like that anymore."

"Oh? So you finally admit that you _used_ to be 'like that'?" Sonoko teased, nudging Ran with her elbow.

"No! I just meant–"

"Hey Ran, Sonoko," Shinichi said, walking up to them.

"Hey, clear something up for me," Sonoko said, locking on to him immediately and making him pull up short. "You and Ran, is that seriously over?"

"Sonoko!" Ran said, horrified.

"Uh…" Shinichi murmured, eyes shifting off to the side.

Sonoko leaned in conspiratorially and asked in a loud approximation of a whisper, "Tell the truth; is it that hot Osaka guy who's obsessed with you?"

" _What?_ " Shinichi choked out in alarm.

" _Sonoko!_ " Ran's face had gone pink but Sonoko remained unfazed. She shrugged a little.

"Just checking," she said.

"…Uh… no…" Shinichi answered awkwardly.

A chill suddenly rose up under his skin and he looked around quickly, but it was only Kogoro glaring daggers at him. Shinichi met his eyes by accident and Kogoro sidled over to them.

"What's the detective brat doing here?" he asked Ran as though Shinichi were not standing right beside her.

"Otou-san! Oh, I give up. I'm sorry, Shinichi."

"Heh, don't worry about it," he said, used to far worse abuse from Kogoro, though neither Ran nor Kogoro knew it. "I'm here to help out with the KID heist," he informed him.

"Oh yeah? Why would they call _you_ in when they could've called _me_?"

"They… didn't call me in. I came on my own."

"Then how'd you know about it?" Kogoro shot back like he'd uncovered some damning flaw in Shinichi's logic.

"The heist notice was in the newspaper, remember?" Ran sighed. "You saw it and said you didn't want to have anything to do with it."

"Hn. Oh, that. Well, it's not like it was anything that required the skills of a great detective like me since KID flat out stated what he was planning," Kogoro grumbled. "Stuff like actually arresting the fool is better left to the police so I can focus on my Yoko-chan~!"

Ran rolled her eyes and Shinichi let out a flat laugh.

"Actually," Ran said, turning her back on Kogoro and ignoring him completely. "You _have_ been going to a lot of KID's heists since you got back."

"Well, I haven't caught him yet," Shinichi answered.

"As if," Sonoko cut in with a scoff. "Nobody's going to catch my KID-sama but me!"

Shinichi averted his eyes quickly. Sonoko would probably _end_ him if she knew KID was spending most of his free time at Shinichi's house these days, or that KID was, in fact, already taken. He excused himself quickly before the smug smirk the thought had conjured could break through.

.

The event that night went almost perfectly. The huge room was packed to capacity, much to Shinobu's pleasure, and Shinichi didn't feel the need to mention that a lot of the people who had come were probably KID fans hoping to catch a glimpse of him whenever he came for his target. Still, it gave the event more exposure and as long as there were still no signs of KID, everyone seemed to be enjoying the show. Kogoro made a fool of himself cheering for Yoko when she came out to model a glamorous crimson party dress, but one of the task force officers standing around the perimeter of the room did too, and the rest of the audience seemed to find it so amusing that everyone started cheering for the models, and it went on like that for the rest of the night.

It wasn't until after the show and all of the bidding was done that Shinichi noticed something was off. The emcee had called Shinobu up on stage to talk a little about the event and the charity that the proceeds – a record high – would go to, and Shinichi, from his spot near the wall off to the side, scrutinized her position on the stage before heading quietly around to the doors behind it and slipping out of the room. The moment he was out, he sprinted down a hall to another, smaller room that was set aside for the models to use. He threw open the door, startling everyone there, and ran inside.

"Does anyone know where Souma-san is? Has anyone seen her recently?"

"She was here not too long ago," Yoko said, recovering from her surprise quickly and handing the crimson dress draped over her arm to one of the volunteers collecting the purchased pieces. "She'd misplaced her gloves and came to get another pair from the dressing room," she added, pointing.

"Thanks!" Shinichi said, already darting toward the door of the partition that split the room. He shoved it open and ran inside without a thought as to whether or not any of the models might still be inside changing and started to search the space. It seemed to be empty of people, but there were rolling clothes racks with mostly empty hangers, bag and purses and shoes on portable shelving units, and several mirrors and small tables with chairs set around the walls, littered with jewelry boxes and makeup kits.

He found Shinobu lying on a cushioned bench tucked back in a corner behind a strategically placed rack of coats. He rolled it aside and knelt beside her to shake her shoulder gently.

"Souma-san," he called. "Wake up."

It took a few more tries, but Shinobu eventually woke, sitting up slowly. Her hair tumbled down over her shoulder as she did and she suddenly looked much more awake as her hand went to her head. The hair pin was gone.

"Yeah," Shinichi said, sounding just a little resigned. "KID's got it." He stood and offered her his hand. "Come with me. We still have a chance to catch him."

Shinobu blinked, still a little dazed from the sleep gas KID had surely hit her with, but she took his hand and seemed steady enough on her feet. Shinichi led her out through the other room where the models were gathered and took her back to the event room through the doors behind the stage.

The moment the four officers stationed there saw Shinobu with Shinichi they realized what it meant, but Shinichi quickly signaled for silence and motioned for them to gather near him. They all huddled in and Shinichi whispered, "Wait until he comes down from the stage – don't let him know we know yet."

But while Shinichi's attention was on the officers, Shinobu had moved around to the corner of the stage, drawn by the sound of her own voice coming from it. She peeked around to look up at the person – herself, it seemed – standing there. She did not go unnoticed.

"Whoops, looks like I'm found out," the Shinobu on the stage said, and an alarming grin suddenly split her face, baffling the emcee and causing a ripple of excitement to roll through the crowd. Shinichi's head came up abruptly from the quiet discussion with the officers and he saw Shinobu still transfixed at the back corner of the stage.

 _So much for_ that _plan,_ he thought, and quickly moved to step out from behind the stage. He smirked up at KID. "Sorry to interrupt," he said above the murmurings of the audience. "But I thought Souma-san might actually want to say a few words."

There was a soft explosion that let loose a cloud of green smoke, and when it cleared KID was there in full regalia and half the crowd was on their feet, many of them screaming KID's name, be it as a cheer or a curse. He grinned down at them and offered a bow, then let slip a flash bomb just as the nearest of the task force officers were scrambling up onto the stage. Everyone in the room flinched away, covering their eyes, some crying out at the sudden light, and when it faded KID was gone altogether.

In the midst of the tumult left behind, as the officers formed human barricades in front of the exits, Sonoko reached over and pinched Ran's cheek hard and tugged.

"Ow, Sonoko!" Ran yelped, batting her hand away and rubbing at the abused skin.

"Sorry, Ran," Sonoko said with a shrug. "He's disguised as you before. I would never forgive myself if my KID-sama was right next to me and I didn't even check!"

Still beside the stage, Shinichi heard a crackle from his radio and lifted it to his ear, listening carefully to catch the report under the noise of the overexcited audience.

" _KID's been sighted near the back offices!"_

 _Is it a trick?_ he thought. _A decoy? How did he get out of this room without anyone noticing?_ He ran around behind the stage again and ducked under it, sweeping the light from his watch across the space. There was nothing there. "Tch, how does he do it?" he muttered.

Already the task force was abandoning the room, following the reports coming in on the radios, and Shinichi let them go. And when they were gone and he was alone behind the stage, he pulled out Conan's tracking glasses and put them on, squeezing the button at the left lens to bring up the navigation screen. A blinking dot appeared, and at first it looked like it was right on top of him and sitting still, but he zoomed in until the map covered only the convention center and its immediate surroundings and suddenly the dot was moving fast away from him. He took off through the back doors at a run.

.

The first time KID ran up against a dead-end of officers in the tunnel leading to the Sunset Hotel, Takagi at the head of the group, he met it with amusement, readily accepting the challenge. When the lot of them ran at him, he shot a suction attachment at the ceiling and pulled himself up out of their reach, swinging over their heads as he triggered the device to release. He landed in a loose crouch behind them and took off running into the hotel, throwing a grin back at them as they scrambled to change direction and go after him.

It wasn't long at all before he ran into another group in a hallway of the hotel.

"Stop right there, KID!" Amane shouted, leaping at him. The officers all surged forward with her, converging on the figure in white, and it was several moments of struggle before they realized the man they had wrestled to the ground was, actually one of their own, now dressed in a mockup of KID's outfit. They all paused, looking down at him in bewilderment as he made his plea against their continued assault, and several fingers reached out to pinch at his face.

Just as they'd all decided he was an innocent victim, something beeped, and a metal, tennis ball-sized capsule burst open, covering the group in a sticky, string-like substance that seemed to solidify around them, leaving them trapped in a tangled jumble on the floor, unable to pull free from the strange cords.

When KID ran into yet another group – this one led by Megure – blocking off the skywalk between the Sunset Hotel and the second building of the Akiyama Convention Center, he thought it was getting a little weird. Not only were they heading him off at every turn, no one seemed to be falling for any of his various decoys. He quickly dropped a flash bomb in front of Megure and his group and disguised himself as one of the officers, making it seem as though KID had simply vanished from the skywalk. He stole a radio off of one of their belts before he slipped away and into a bathroom in the second Akiyama building, taking a moment to catch his breath as he changed back into the KID outfit and listened in on the reports coming through.

" _Men's bathroom, second level of the other convention building,"_ Shinichi's voice said through the radio. KID blinked down at it then threw a quick glance around the deserted bathroom, wondering if they'd added cameras he'd somehow missed, but there was nothing there. A moment later, he heard them converging on the bathroom and dashed out before they could trap him inside. He ran for the skywalk that led back to the main building of the convention center, pausing just an instant at the threshold of the passage before racing inside.

He made it about halfway through when the other side suddenly filled up with officers, Sato and Kazeno heading them up, and KID stopped immediately, preferring to keep some distance from Sato. Behind him, Takagi and Megure were at the front of another small faction, blocking off the other end. KID looked from one group to the other and let his eyes close on a sigh.

"Okay, I'll admit, this time you got me," he said, just a hint forlorn. He held his hands out. "Better just cuff me. I'm done for."

No one moved, fairly certain it must be a trick, but then Sato strode forward and grabbed him, wrenching his arms behind his back and locking his wrists into a pair of handcuffs.

"Hey, was that really necessary?" KID complained, allowing a real wince onto his face at the rough treatment.

"I don't know," Sato replied coolly, keeping a tight hold on his arm. "Was it really necessary to steal all those jewels?"

 _Yes,_ Kaito thought, but it somehow translated into a slight but cocky smirk and the subtle shrug of a shoulder.

The other officers seemed to have started to believe in KID's capture. They moved forward, surrounding KID and Sato, and Kazeno also grabbed one of KID's arms.

"Keep a hold on him, everyone," he said. "He's bested better than handcuffs before."

They all pulled in closer and, as one unit, began herding KID down the skywalk toward the main building of the convention center.

It wasn't until they reached the threshold that everything fell apart. KID was suddenly somehow on the other side of the double doors at the entrance of the skywalk, closing the handcuffs onto the pushbars to lock them together, and many of the officers on the other side of those doors could really only be surprised that it took as long as it did for him to escape. But even that, they knew, had just been part of KID's plan.

KID tipped his hat slightly at them through the narrow windows in the metal doors as Sato rattled them, testing KID's makeshift lock. Then he was gone.

Sato, jaw clenched a little tighter, turned from the doors and sprinted for the opposite end where the passage should have let out into the other building, only to find another set of closed doors that would not budge. She turned for the fork that lead to the Sunset Hotel and met up with Takagi on the way. The two of them ran down the short stretch and knew before they reached the doors ahead of them that they would not open. They were locked in the skywalk, and with as few free officers left as there were, they would probably be there for a while. Takagi picked up his radio anyway to report, but it was dead.

"Uh… Sato-san," he said, but she was already trying hers as well. Nothing.

"Great," she said on a sigh.

.

KID strolled out onto the roof of the skywalk that stretched between Hotel Naito and the Akiyama Convention Center and sat down cross-legged right in the middle of it, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the moon. He breathed out a little sigh that came out in a cloud of white in the cold air. _Let's see if this works,_ he thought, glancing down at the roof. _If Tantei-kun's somehow telling them everywhere I am, I may as well use it to my advantage. And I should be able to find out a little more about_ how _he's doing it. Can he see me? Or is it…_

The thought tapered off as his eyes, now a little better adjusted to the darkness out on the roof, picked up the strange little circle on the bottom of his shoe. He reached out and plucked it off. _So_ that's _how it is._ Grinning, he pocketed it.

A few moments later, a group of officers arrived in the skywalk below him. A remote appeared in KID's hand and he pushed a button. The doors to the skywalk swung shut right behind the officers, and down at the opposite end as well, locking shut under the influence of the powerful magnets KID had planted on them.

 _Just a few more to go~!_

.

KID's next plot led him to the tunnel to Hotel Naito, where he stood halfway between the hotel and the convention center and patiently waited. When a scant few officers showed up in the tunnel shortly after, he grinned and waved, but didn't try to leave. When they came nearer though, closing in on him, he pressed a button on the remote in his pocket and pink gas started pouring out from the heat vents that ran the length of the tunnel. The officers recognized the danger immediately, and all of them turned to run, but not a single one made it clear of the tunnel before the sleep gas overtook them, dropping each one where they stood.

KID stepped carefully around the sleeping officers, breathing comfortably through his gasmask, and walked out of the tunnel in a dramatic swirl of smoke. Once he was far enough away, moving back into the lower level of the convention center, he tugged off the mask and let out a small sigh. It felt like it had been ages since he last had a heist, let alone one this challenging, but he was fairly certain he'd finally caught or knocked out all of the officers present for the night.

 _That just leaves Tantei-kun…_ he thought with a smirk.

KID rounded the corner ahead and halted. A few paces from him Ran also paused, needing just a moment to take in the thief standing in front of her before she fell calmly back into a fighting stance, slightly crouched and hands raised and ready to strike or defend in accordance with her instantaneous reflexes. KID froze.

 _This is bad._

"Going somewhere, KID?" Ran said, eyes narrowed.

Behind his poker face, KID shook free from any clinging intimidation, and he shrugged as he slipped his hands into his pockets casually. "I'd stick around if you asked nicely," he offered, still giving every appearance of confidence while a little voice in his mind murmured, _I am so screwed._ He'd been hoping for a sleep gas bomb to use on her, but he'd used the last of them on the tunnel trick.

"Give back Souma-san's pin," Ran demanded.

"I plan to," KID admitted easily.

"Because it's not what you're looking for?" Ran accused.

 _Oh, crap._ "Don't say it like that. Come on, am I really so bad?"

Ran's expression was getting darker by the moment as she recalled the events onboard a certain airship and KID decided it was time to leave.

"Right," he said. "See ya!" He gave a cheerful salute as a red smoke bomb went off, but Ran shot forward, slamming into him before he could take his leave and tackling him to the floor. She managed to seat herself on his back and got a hold on his arm, pinning it up behind him.

 _Shit–!_ He just managed to slip a flash bomb out of his other sleeve and Ran was forced to close her eyes, flinching away and giving him just enough leeway to twist free of her hold and take off running. Ran was only a few seconds behind him, chasing him down hard, but in a flat out run KID was faster. He gained a little more ground at every corner and every staircase, and the longer it went on the more he pulled ahead until he reached the lobby of the King's Hotel with enough of a lead that he could disguise himself before Ran rounded the corner after him.

Ran reached out for the wall, leaning forward slightly as she tried to catch her breath, looking around the lobby for any sign of who among the few guests and staff might actually be KID, but she couldn't tell. A few of them had noticed her run in and were eyeing her with confusion or concern. Others weren't paying her any mind at all. None of them looked to be in any hurry, or out of breath, or wary of her.

"Ugh, that jerk," she muttered, and she had the impulse to punch something but refrained for the sake of avoiding property damage. With an aggravated sigh, she moved into the lobby and dropped into a plush chair, pulling out her phone.

Behind the front desk, a staff member moved into the back room and, as soon as the door closed behind him, leaned a shoulder against the wall to try to recover his breath.

 _Geez!_ KID thought, heading back out into the hotel through another door, but he was grinning as he dropped the disguise. _What next?_

.

No one was responding to Shinichi over the radio anymore. That was fine. It was about time he went after KID himself now anyway. He'd been following KID's movements with the tracking glasses and trying to keep up, wanting to be nearby but not intending to confront him yet to avoid getting caught himself or giving away the tracer (if KID hadn't already noticed it, which, he probably had). Actually, the blip hadn't moved in some time and Shinichi wondered if KID had found the tracer and left it behind after all as he ran toward the signal.

The glasses led him to a small conference room in the King's Hotel that he knew was in the process of being refurbished. Shinichi approached the door, slightly out of breath from a night of chasing down the signal, took off the glasses, and walked right in.

KID was sprawled out on his back in the middle of the mostly empty room. All of the furniture had been removed and new curtains and blinds were piled in the corner, not yet hung, leaving tall windows bare and moonlight streaming down across the thief. He glanced over at the door when it opened, but when he saw Shinichi he just closed his eyes again, not getting up.

"Geez, you're persistent today," he said with a little smirk. "Why are you trying so hard?"

"You expect me not to?" Shinichi answered, closing the door behind him. "Can't have you slacking off." He moved into the middle of the room and dropped down to sit next to KID, tossing the glasses aside lightly.

"How dare you," KID said with no real heat. "I'd never!"

Shinichi laughed a little and KID reached into his pocket to pull out the tracer, tossing it over by the glasses on the floor.

"So you _did_ find it," Shinichi commented.

KID rolled over onto his side, propping himself on an elbow to look over at Shinichi. "You didn't go anywhere near me. How did you even manage it?"

"I planted it under the stage." He put his hands out behind him to lean back slightly. "Found your trap door earlier today when they were setting up."

"Hm. You always been this sneaky, Tantei-kun?"

"Detectives need to be a step ahead of the criminals," Shinichi said

"Funny, I'd say thieves need to stay a step ahead of the detectives," KID returned with a smirk.

Shinichi just shrugged. "Guess it depends what side you're on."

He was a little startled when KID seemed to lean toward him slightly, regarding him with wide, earnest, imploring eyes, and asked with the most compelling innocence and hope, "Can I just be on _your_ side… Shinichi?"

Something about his name from KID's lips sent a rush through him like electricity, and a subtle blush rose to his face. It was answered with a sweet smile and Shinichi had to consciously remind himself that KID knew _exactly_ what he was doing here. It did nothing to lessen the effect the damn thief had on him.

"Here, Tantei-kun," KID said, releasing him from his gaze to pull the hair pin from a pocket. He reached over and set it gently beside Shinichi's glasses and tracer, knowing the detective would not handle the pearl studded piece without gloves. "You earned it."

"Heh." Shinichi looked down at it for a moment in the moonlight, but he didn't bother asking about the Pandora test. He already knew that wasn't why KID had pulled this heist.

KID had lain back again, folding his hands behind his head and tipping his hat forward over his eyes with a sigh. "I'm glad we can still do this," he said with a little smile. "You know – good old heists with thief versus detective."

"Idiot," Shinichi scoffed. "Of course we can."

KID cracked an eye open to peek up at him, then suddenly rolled over again, letting his hat slip off and onto the floor as he got to his hands and knees, slinking forward until his palms were on the floor on either side of Shinichi's hips. He leaned in slowly and touched a brief, light kiss to Shinichi's lips.

Shinichi found himself a little stunned, because this was being kissed by _KID,_ and that… that was different. And, he discovered, it was a good kind of different. His heart was racing, his face far too warm, and he stared wide-eyed at the thief in front of him. KID couldn't have helped the smirk that came to his face even if he'd wanted to.

 _Well, isn't that very interesting,_ he thought. He leaned in again to brush another kiss against Shinichi's cheek and murmured, "You seem _excited,_ Tantei-kun. Any… particular reason for that?"

Shinichi's face went a shade darker but he replied stubbornly, "I don't know what you mean."

"If you say so," KID said, still smiling and just unable to stop. He moved to steal another kiss that left Shinichi a little breathless when he finally pulled back, and murmured softly, "Merry Christmas, Shinichi."

.

 **Author Note –** This would have been up sooner, but fanfiction-net continues to be sucky. *sigh* Once again, I encourage everyone who is willing to pick up my stuff on AO3 instead. There's at least one work there already that I won't be posting here (because it was done in conjunction with an AO3 author) and I wouldn't be surprised if I eventually decide to stop posting here and just put everything over there. I won't leave anything unfinished on here, but one day I just might get fed up enough that anything new won't make it onto this site.

Sorry for the complaining; I'm just pretty frustrated. It's been a long week. As a reward for putting up with me, here's a sneak peek at next week's chapter: "Error in Judgment," in which Ran gets the short end of the stick, courtesy of Yukiko, and Shinichi and Kaito have a bit of a domestic. Happy New Year!

~DS


	14. Chapter 14

**Case 14 – Error in Judgment**

.

"Ran-chan!"

Ran flinched, pulling the phone away from her ear just slightly at the sound of the shrill, excited greeting.

"How are you doing!"

"Oh, I'm doing well, but… isn't it a bit late in New York right now? Is everything all right?"

"You're so sweet, Ran-chan. Everything's fine. We're actually in Chicago. My _dear_ husband decided he was _tired_ of New York. But it's only 1AM here," Kudou Yukiko said brightly. "I've just been trying to get a hold of that son of mine but he won't answer his phone and I'm pretty sure he got rid of the house phone." There was a clear pout in her voice and Ran decided not to confirm that suspicion, though she knew it was true. "Are you busy Ran-chan? Would you mind going over there to see if he's home?"

"Oh, um, sure it's no problem."

"Thank you! You're the best! Make sure he calls me back, okay?"

Ran sighed, her shoulders slumping a little after Yukiko had hung up. It was hardly fair that her not-ex-boyfriend's mother still called her to check up on him. Even more unfair was that she still didn't feel like she could say no either.

Resigned, Ran pulled herself up from the couch where she'd been planning on staying all day after having been up all night listening to her parents argue. Another plan to reconcile them, failed. What a way to start the new year.

.

Kaito watched out of the corner of his eye as Shinichi attempted to subtly reject yet another call on his cell phone. Part of him was tempted to tell him to just turn it off, but he knew Shinichi never did that. Both Shinichi and the police had gotten used to Shinichi always being available if something bizarre came up. Kaito was getting used to it too. So instead, as the phone buzzed again for the twelfth time in an hour, Kaito reached over and slipped it out of Shinichi's hand.

"She's obviously not going to stop until you answer," he said, examining the screen lit up with the word "Mother" across it. "You're sure it's not an emergency or something?"

"She'd text me if it was important," Shinichi answered.

"Then you should let _me_ answer it!" Kaito offered.

"Right, and have her flying right over here to meet the boyfriend I never told her about? Not a good plan."

"Of course not. I'd answer as _you,_ " Kaito said, already having made the subtle adjustments necessary to his pitch and inflections to mimic Shinichi's voice. He raised the phone, about to answer, and Shinichi jumped on him, toppling him over on the couch and quickly wresting the phone from his grasp.

"No!" Shinichi said, horrified. "Absolutely not." He scrambled off of Kaito and retreated to the other end of the couch, hunching his whole body around the phone in his hands with the fierce protectiveness of a mother cat.

"You're no fun," Kaito pouted, pulling himself back up again.

The doorbell rang and Shinichi's eyes went wide as his head jerked up to look toward the foyer beyond the sitting room.

"Maybe that's her now and she's been calling all this time to give you a little warning," Kaito teased, hopping to his feet. "Don't worry; I'll get it~!" He disappeared in a puff of smoke before Shinichi could argue, and he heard the front door opening a moment later. With a groan, he buried his face in his hands.

Kaito pulled open the door and greeted Ran with a brilliant smile and a convincing dose of false but pleasant surprise. "Oh, Mouri-chan, isn't it?" he said. "Come in; it's nice to finally meet you!" He just barely managed to stop himself from offering her a rose. He had to be careful with this one. She'd already figured out for herself that KID looked a lot like Shinichi. He didn't need anything else raising unnecessary suspicions.

For the moment though, he seemed to be okay. Ran was looking slightly stunned where she stood in the doorway, having not expected someone other than Shinichi to answer the door, or for that someone to be so energetic. Belatedly, she accepted his invitation and stepped inside.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know Shinichi had company," she said.

Shinichi emerged from the sitting room just as another call came through on his phone. He barely glanced at it before rejecting it once again, poking dejectedly at the screen to clear the growing list of notices. "Hey Ran," he said. "How are you doing? I didn't think you'd be around today from your texts last night."

Kaito didn't miss the bitter edge to Ran's smile. "I wasn't planning on it. Your mother called me. She made me promise I'd have you call her back, so you're just going to have to do it." Shinichi winced and Ran's smile turned smug. At least there was some satisfaction in a little payback.

"All right, fine," he conceded. "Oh, Ran, this is Kuroba Kaito."

Kaito grinned and held out his hand to her and she took it. "Nice to meet you," she said. "Are you a relative of Shinichi's?"

Kaito's face went blank with confusion and he glanced over at Shinichi.

"He's, uh, he's my boyfriend," Shinichi said a little sheepishly.

"…Wait, seriously?" Ran asked. Kaito stayed silent, looking between the two of them. "How, um, how long have you two…?"

"Going on three months now I think," Shinichi answered and was startled by the dark look that suddenly came over Ran. Something in him warned him to run, but he was too busy trying to figure out what he'd done wrong to listen to it, and then it was too late. Ran had grabbed the front of his shirt and he almost fell over as she jerked him around, heading toward the library and dragging him in her wake.

"Excuse us, won't you?" she gritted out to Kaito as they passed by him. They disappeared through the doorway and the door slammed with a force that shook the walls.

Kaito just stood, completely frozen, with one thought blacking everything else out.

 _He… never told her._

He could easily hear Ran shouting on the other side of the door, but the words barely registered. He felt numb.

" _Three months,_ Shinichi. It's not like we haven't seen each other. You see me every day at school, but you didn't _think_ to mention something that important? Did you think I just wouldn't care? Did you think I would be offended? Did you think I wouldn't understand? _What?_ "

"I– Look, it wasn't _intentional–_ "

"What the hell does that mean? The two of you have been dating for the past _three months_. How do you just _forget_ to mention that? Do you even care?"

Kaito felt something in his chest tighten, still staring at the floor. His heart was beating a little too fast but he couldn't get it under control.

"Of course I do."

Shinichi's voice came through stronger now. Defensive. Ran's voice lowered.

"Did you even _notice_ how stunned he looked just now?"

Kaito flinched. Was he really that far gone? He'd completely failed to mask his emotions. _Why?_

"…You didn't. Geez, some detective."

Kaito forced himself to move and walked over to the door with even, measured steps. He knocked lightly before pushing it open and stepping inside. "Excuse me, Mouri-chan… I'd… really like to talk to Shinichi, if you don't mind," he said quietly, not looking at either of them.

Shinichi, already pale as death and slightly dizzy with breaking realization, stared at Kaito from across the room. He had never seen him that subdued – that _sad_.

Ran turned toward Kaito, rubbing the heel of her hand across her eyes quickly. "Yeah, of course," she said. She started for the door and Shinichi took a step forward, trying to force words out of an uncomfortably tight throat.

"Ran, I'm–"

"Shut up," Ran snapped, jerking to a halt to throw a glare back at him. "I swear, that's all I ever hear from you is how you're sorry, but you still do things like this." She rolled her eyes and turned away again, pausing beside Kaito at the door but not looking at him.

"I'm sorry, Kuroba-san. It was, um, nice to meet you." She hurried from the library and Shinichi heard the front door slam behind her.

"…Kaito?" Shinichi tried when Kaito didn't move.

Kaito drew in a deep breath and visibly collected himself, stepping into the room. "You know," he started casually. "I understand why you don't want to tell your parents about this, and it doesn't bother me. I assumed you were being honest when you said you'd introduce me properly to them the next time they came around, but you didn't want to call down that storm before you had to by telling them sooner. That's fine."

"Kaito, of course I was being honest; why _wouldn't_ I–?"

"I don't know, Shinichi!" Kaito laughed. "I think there must be something I'm missing! …Why didn't you tell Mouri-chan?"

Shinichi sighed. "I didn't… _think_ of it," he said, knowing how bad it sounded but not sure how else to say it.

"…Oh." Kaito said uncertainly.

"Don't… _take_ it that way. I only meant… Look, it's just that it's not exactly my first instinct to talk about my personal life. Especially after Conan."

Kaito blinked, going unnaturally still.

"It's not that I'm not thinking of you," Shinichi continued. "And it's _not_ that I don't care, okay? I just… I don't–"

"Shinichi, stop. It's okay. I, uh, I think I get it now," Kaito muttered, looking away. "That, um, that didn't occur to me." He was smiling a little when he glanced up again. "But I do still think it's a little unreasonable you never told _Mouri-chan_ at least."

"…I told Agasa-hakase and Haibara…"

"You told the _professor_ ," Kaito corrected, raising one eyebrow over a little smirk. "You didn't really have a choice about Haibara-san." He sighed, shaking his head. "And really I don't know if the fact that you told them makes this better or worse. I mean, I'm glad you're not keeping us a secret or anything, but that just makes not telling Mouri-chan even worse, you know?"

"I know," Shinichi groaned, covering his face with both hands. Kaito just sighed again. He moved behind Shinichi and slipped his arms around him. "How do I always manage to screw things up with her?"

Shinichi felt more than heard Kaito laugh. "You two are like fire and ice. I think there's always gonna be stuff for you to argue about. But she'll forgive you. Just… try to think of her feelings once in a while. She's the kind of person who cares really deeply about the people she loves."

"Hey… Kaito?"

"Hm?"

"I really am sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings either."

"…I know. I guess I was just a little worried. I don't want to be another secret for you to get buried under."

Shinichi turned in Kaito's arms and gave him a peculiar look. " _That's_ what this is about? Kaito, I'm fine. What, were you worried I didn't tell anyone about us because you happen to be an internationally wanted jewel thief?" He was smiling, just a little, and as he continued his face went slightly pink. "I sort of consider it my privilege to keep that secret, you know?"

"Y-You do?"

"Of course I do. Telling me of all people something like that… That's a lot of trust. I wanna live up to that."

Kaito beamed at him and Shinichi's breath caught a little, relief catching him by surprise. "Can I kiss you?" Kaito asked.

"Heh, since when do you ask?"

He shrugged. "You could say no."

"I could," Shinichi agreed, smiling, and when he didn't say anything more Kaito rolled his eyes and kissed him. The moment they separated, Shinichi felt something thud against his chest. Kaito had picked the phone from his pocket and was holding it there with a wicked smirk.

"Call your mother, wish her a happy new year, and ask her when she and your dad will be visiting next," he said firmly.

Shinichi took the phone – _three missed calls_ – with a resigned sigh. "I suppose I deserved that," he said, tapping the call-back button on the screen.

"Oh, come on. I'm sure it's not as bad as you make it s–"

" _Shin-chan!_ "

Kaito jumped and Shinichi jerked the phone away from his ear as Yukiko's voice came though, loud and excited and shrill.

"Hi Kaa-san," Shinichi sighed. "Happy new year…"


	15. Chapter 15

**Case 15 – Valentine**

.

Shinichi was starting to get used to Kaito showing up at Teitan High to walk home with him, Ran, and Sonoko after school any time Kaito's class and work schedule allowed. If he had to guess, he'd say it was Kaito's idea of being helpful – if Shinichi wasn't comfortable bringing up the subject of his boyfriend to people, Kaito would do it for him, and they would avoid anymore misunderstandings like the one they'd had on New Year's.

On this particular day, after they had parted ways with Sonoko and Ran, Kaito had leaned over toward Shinichi and asked entirely too innocently, "Are you busy on the fourteenth? I mean, as far as you know anyway."

"Mm. Not as far as I know," Shinichi answered.

"Let's have a date night~!" Kaito proclaimed. "It's Valentine's Day!"

"Sure, but why Valentine's Day specifically?"

Kaito shrugged. "I don't know; I just want to do something special since we didn't really get to go out on Christmas Eve."

Shinichi smirked over at him. "And whose fault is that?"

"Hey, I had that heist planned for _months._ How was I supposed to know I'd have a boyfriend when Christmas Eve came around?"

"Heh, that's all right. It was still a good night."

"But we're on for Valentine's Day, right?" Kaito asked again, giving him a wide-eyed, imploring look.

"Yeah, that sounds fine to me."

"Good!" Kaito beamed at him and Shinichi felt a smile slide across his own face in response. It still just felt _good_ to see Kaito that happy. "Just leave all the planning to me~!" Kaito added, and just like that, Shinichi was wondering if this was one of those things he'd regret.

.

The morning of the fourteenth, Kaito crouched beside Shinichi's bed and folded his arms on the mattress right in front of Shinichi's face. Shinichi didn't move.

"Shinichi~" Kaito called softly.

"Mm," Shinichi replied, not opening his eyes.

"It's Valentine's Day," Kaito whispered, unable to keep from smiling.

"Mm hm," was the unenthused response.

"Do you remember what you said?" Kaito continued, undaunted.

"Mm hm."

"Good." He inched up to kiss Shinichi's forehead. "I'll let you sleep." There was a quiet sort of mumble in reply as Kaito bounced out of the room again.

.

The restaurant Kaito had picked out was a nice one without being too overbearing or fancy. Mostly it was quiet and comfortable and warm. It was also mostly empty as Kaito had decided on a late dinner to fit with the rest of his plans for the night, of which Shinichi had not yet been told.

Then again it might have been mostly empty for another reason.

"Welcome!" the hostess greeted as they walked in. "Just to let you know, we seem to be completely out of all seafood dishes tonight." Shinichi thought he saw Kaito flinch, but didn't know what to make of it. "Would you still like a table?"

"Yes," Kaito told her quickly, throwing on a charming smile. "That's fine."

It was honestly a little strange (how had they just happened to run out of _every_ seafood dish?) but Shinichi didn't dwell on it, mostly just hoping this wouldn't turn into some bizarre fish-related murder case before pushing the whole thing out of his mind entirely.

.

"So, I wasn't really paying attention to the professor – I mean, there was all this awesome equipment to play with," Kaito was saying a short time later as they were waiting for their food. "And I ended up accidentally mixing some chemicals that made this terrible smelling smoke screen and the lab had to be evacuated."

"How much trouble did you get in?" Shinichi asked, grinning across the table from him. He was fairly certain he already knew the answer.

"They still don't know who did it~"

 _Of course,_ Shinichi thought with more satisfaction than a detective should rightly have to hear such a thing. "You know, I actually did something similar once a few years ago. Except it wasn't an accident – I did it to sneak out of class so I could work on a case."

"Ha, I'm impressed," Kaito said, a sense of amused approval in his tone.

"It was a good thing, too, since that particular chemical mixture came up again in a murder case I ran into later. They'd flushed the victim out of the room he was in using the gas and he was forced into an elevator that had been tampered with. Long story short, he ended up mostly beheaded, and if it hadn't been for the trick with the chemicals it might have been labeled an accident."

Kaito's eyebrows went up. "' _Mostly_ '?"

The waiter had arrived around that moment and was doing a poor job of pretending not to be horrified. He deposited the plates on the table quickly and asked if they needed anything else, silently hoping the answer would be no.

"Uh, I think we're good, thanks," Shinichi said, and the waiter hurried away, casting an uneasy glance over his shoulder at them before he disappeared into the kitchens.

"Heh, sorry," Shinichi murmured after he'd gone.

Kaito looked over at him, confused. "Sorry for what?"

"Murders aren't really… good date conversation," he said sheepishly.

Kaito blinked back at him. "What?"

"Well, I mean, you're not supposed to talk about stuff like that on dates, right?" he said uncertainly, remembering a good number of scoldings from Ran in what was honestly a wide variety of scenarios and not necessarily just dates (or not-dates, since that seemed to be as much as they could manage).

" _Supposed_ to?" Kaito said, baffled. "Why should date conversation be any different from regular conversation? Shouldn't we just be ourselves? I mean, that's the whole point isn't it? That we're here because we like each other and want to spend time together?"

Shinichi blinked mutely, slightly stunned, but then he relaxed, the smile returning to his face. "Right. I keep forgetting – you're really different from the people I'm used to."

Smirking, Kaito asked, "Good different?" and Shinichi laughed a little.

"Yeah. I think I like it," he said, and he felt a small rush when Kaito grinned back at him. _I might even love it,_ he thought.

"Good," Kaito said, plucking a dumpling from the plate between them. "Actually, I'm curious about how the killer rigged the elevator," he added, picking up where they'd left off in the conversation as if nothing had happened.

"I think it was mostly the doors and something with the counterweights," Shinichi said.

Kaito hummed thoughtfully, nodding a little. "Pretty clever. Not the obvious ploy. Let me guess – the elevator essentially fell _up_ , right?"

"Yeah!" Shinichi said, leaning forward a little.

"So, how'd you catch him…?"

.

When they left the restaurant later that evening, Shinichi was fairly surprised they'd managed to make it through the whole meal without anyone dropping dead, though, he reflected, they had left their waiter somewhat traumatized.

"What now?" Shinichi asked with some interest, glancing at the play of city lights over Kaito's hand on the steering wheel.

"You'll see~" Kaito answered.

He eventually squeezed his car into a space on a side street somewhere Shinichi wasn't sure he recognized and they got out, Kaito leading him past several storefronts before catching his hand to pull him along through one of the doors.

"Here," he said, smiling like he was particularly proud of himself. They were inside before Shinichi could really get a look at where they were, but the rich scent of coffee greeted him as they entered. "Come on," Kaito said, still pulling him along enthusiastically. "Let's get our drinks and grab a table – it's about to start!"

At Kaito's suggestion, Shinichi ended up with a large, steaming mug of dark chocolate mocha warming his hands as they sat at a little table near the wall. At the back of the room, there was a small, raised platform where four probably high school students were seated, bending over instrument cases open on the floor between spindly music stands as they spoke to each other in low tones under the cheerful chatter around the café.

"I've heard this group is really good," Kaito said, sipping from the straw tucked under the pile of whipped cream and red sprinkles that floated on top of the white chocolate concoction he'd ordered. "They're students, so they only perform casually at free places like this."

It was a string quartet, Shinichi noted as they all settled back in their chairs with their instruments. When they started playing, easing into a soft swell, the conversations around the room mostly continued though a few people stopped to listen. It was obviously intended to be comfortable – and beautiful – background music. Shinichi and Kaito listened quietly for a while until Shinichi caught Kaito watching him instead of the musicians.

"What?" he said.

"Not a lot of appreciation for theatre, but a lot for music I think," Kaito observed, smiling a lopsided smile with his cheek resting on his hand.

"Heh, you can blame my mother for ruining theatre for me. What about you?"

Kaito shrugged a little, sitting back again. "I'd like to hear _you_ play," he said, glancing over at the violinists.

"I'm not all that good," Shinichi said. "I'm better at piano."

"You play the piano?" Kaito asked, and he was suddenly leaning forward, eyes sparkling in the low light of the café.

"Do you play?" Shinichi asked.

"No, but I wouldn't mind learning."

Shinichi's eyebrows went up. _Well. It's not every day you run into something Kaito_ can't _do._ "Do you want me to teach you?" he offered, and Kaito grinned.

"I'd love that."

.

It was nearing midnight when Kaito and Shinichi left the café, but in the midst of an energetic discussion of Lupin versus Holmes, Shinichi hardly noticed that Kaito was not driving back toward Beika. When he did notice, however, he didn't think much of it. Kaito had already told him that he'd planned for them to be out all night, so Shinichi just went along for the ride, though he couldn't help deducing where Kaito was headed before long.

They pulled up near the clock tower station and neither spoke as Shinichi followed Kaito up to the doors, but he gave him a look that Kaito took to mean, "You think you're so clever" and "I kind of like when you're clever" at the same time. Grinning, he made short work of the lock and the two of them slipped inside, Kaito leading the way up to the top of the tower. They climbed out onto the ledge around the roof and Kaito took Shinichi around to the east side where he sat back against the tower and looked up at Shinichi expectantly until he joined him.

Shinichi smiled, looking out over the scene below. "You get all the best views as KID, don't you," he said appreciatively.

"One of the perks," Kaito agreed. He slid over to lean against Shinichi's shoulder and said softly, "Look up."

Shinichi looked, and was greeted with a fantastic expanse of uninterrupted sky, crystal clear over the water in the distance and filled with stars and silver moonlight. "…I might be in the wrong business," he murmured, staring.

Kaito laughed. "I seriously doubt that," he said, slipping an arm around Shinichi's waist.

Suddenly it looked like something hit the canvas of the sky and knocked a handful of stars loose in a glittering shower of white and silver. It took Shinichi a lot longer than it should have to realize he was looking at fireworks.

"Yours?" he asked Kaito, already knowing the answer.

"Of course," Kaito replied with a grin. "I made them myself."

"I can tell," Shinichi breathed, never taking his eyes from the display. The white and silver were slowly transitioning to rich gold and red with each new burst of sparks, filling the sky with a warmer light and setting the water below aflame with vibrant reflections. "They're _beautiful_."

Kaito's smile softened and he inched down to rest his head against Shinichi's shoulder, settling in to watch. "Thanks."

The show came to a soft and quiet end some time later with clusters of pale pink sparks that burned longer and fell more slowly, catching in the wind like flower petals before gradually fading away. For a long time Shinichi just stared out at the night sky over the water, not wanting to move, somehow unable to bring himself to break the stillness that had settled in their wake.

"So," Kaito said after a while, his voice hushed. "Pretty good Valentine's Day?"

"Yeah," Shinichi breathed out on a laugh. "Pretty good."

"Do you want to stay and watch the sunrise? I know it's kind of cold…"

Shinichi smiled. "Not _that_ cold." His arm slipped around Kaito, pulling him a little bit closer. "But seriously, Kaito. Thank you. This was amazing."

"Hm. It always means a little more coming from you."

"Heh, are you just saying that to be cute?"

Kaito glanced up at him from where he was still tucked close against Shinichi's shoulder. "You think I'm cute?" he teased.

"I think you're not to be trusted," Shinichi said, smirking.

"True," Kaito agreed with a subtle shrug. "But I meant it. You know, even before, I got used to you being at my heists. Whenever you weren't, it would feel kind of lonely. No one else _sees_ things like you do," he said on a sigh. "I think I kind of depend on that now. I mean, I've got tons of people who think I'm amazing, but they don't really care about the _why_ or the _how_. Even that Hakuba bastard and the Osaka detective – they might figure my tricks out sometimes, but they don't have any appreciation for them when they do, you know?"

"Hm, and here I was under the impression that you're just drawn to acts of insanity and thought dating a detective would be fun," Shinichi joked.

"It _is_ fun," Kaito corrected. "What can I say; I'm a risk-taker."

"Ha, you can say that again."

"You've got no room to talk."

"Agreed," Shinichi said with a light laugh. "Guess we'll just have to watch each other's backs."

Kaito closed his eyes, relaxing against Shinichi with a small smile. "…It feels so strange sometimes, doesn't it? Having someone who _knows_. Someone you can trust."

"Yeah… it really does. But it's a good feeling, too."

"Agreed~"

Shinichi glanced down at Kaito, just watching him quietly for a few moments. "Hey… Kaito…"

"Hm?" Kaito's eyes opened and he peered up at Shinichi in the moonlight and dammit if that wide-eyed, innocently attentive look didn't make something jump in Shinichi's chest, reverberating out through his body under his skin.

"N-Nothing… Never mind," he murmured, face going a little red.

Kaito sat up and shifted around, pulling Shinichi away from the wall a little to face him. "You should say what you want sometimes," he said with a soft smile, his voice low. He leaned in, touching his forehead to Shinichi's. "So?" he prompted in a whisper.

Blush darkening, Shinichi's eyes moved off to the side and he muttered petulantly, "So I wanna kiss you."

Kaito drew back just slightly to give him a look that too clearly said, "Then what are you waiting for?" and that smirk was too much to resist. Shinichi closed the distance between them and Kaito's arms slipped around him, drawing him closer.

They broke apart again abruptly when the clock tower bell struck a resounding toll and they both turned to stare up at it. When the second ring faded into the night, Kaito cast a sly glance over at Shinichi.

"Still a few hours to sunrise," he said.

Shinichi reached out to pull him close again and met him with another kiss.

"Good."

.

"How did everything go at the restaurant, Jii-chan?" Kaito asked, tucking his phone against his ear as he unlocked his front door later that morning.

"No problems at all," Jii answered. "Did you have a good night?"

Kaito grinned. "It was perfect. Thanks for your help."

"Anytime, Bocchama," Jii said, and Kaito could hear the smile in his voice as well.

"You know… I'm thinking about telling him," Kaito said, throwing himself down on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. There was still glitter there from a new trick he'd been developing that had gone a little better than he'd expected.

"…Telling him what?" Jii asked, suddenly wary.

"About my problem with… you know… _that_ ," he said with a shudder.

Jii was speechless for a moment, both relieved that Kaito was not talking about telling his boyfriend that he was the Kaitou KID (the details of Kaito's current relationship were still unknown to him) and shocked that Kaito was considering revealing his phobia to someone of his own free will. "I don't believe you've ever chosen to tell anyone about that before, Bocchama," Jii eventually said.

"Yeah, I know, but I think he'd figure it out soon anyway. And I don't think he'd ever use it against me or tell anybody if I asked him not to."

"This 'Shinichi' must be something special. I'd very much like to meet him one day."

"You will," Kaito said. "If I get my way, he's gonna be around for a long, long time~"


	16. Chapter 16

**Case 16 – The Talk**

.

"We should take the girls out tomorrow!" Kaito announced from where he was suddenly perched on the windowsill behind the large desk in the Kudou family library.

"Hi, Kaito," Shinichi said from the armchair he had folded himself into, not looking up from the book propped against his knees. "Which girls?"

"Aoko and Mouri-chan of course," he sighed, slipping from the sill and striding around the desk to lean over the back of Shinichi's armchair. "Aoko's been bugging me about meeting you, and you owe Mouri-chan anyway for not telling her about me. Come to think of it, you owe me for that one too, so really you don't have a choice. We're going out for ice cream tomorrow and whatever else they want to do." He nodded with finality and Shinichi, having finished the page he was on, closed the book and shrugged.

"Sure, why not?"

.

When Kaito and Shinichi arrived at the dessert café the next day, Aoko and Ran had both already made it there and were sitting together at a four-seat table. It seemed they hadn't had any trouble meeting since they knew what to look for, having been previously informed of their similarities. Shinichi was about to head inside but Kaito stopped him, catching his hand before he could reach for the door and pulling him over to a bus stop just out of direct sight of the café's picture window.

"What are you doing?" Shinichi asked, mostly just curious.

"Let's give it a few minutes," Kaito said. He was angled away from the window but Shinichi could tell he was watching. "This is good. I'd like for them to be friends, you know? Give them a chance to get to know each other a little."

Shinichi wasn't sure he understood, but Kaito seemed happy, so he shrugged and leaned his shoulder against Kaito's, settling in to wait.

.

Inside the café, Ran and Aoko were chatting amiably, and quickly bonding over the flaws of their respective childhood friends.

"I wouldn't be too surprised if they show up late. Shinichi can't seem to make a meeting on time to save his life," Ran was saying.

Aoko shrugged it off. "That's all right. At least neither of us is waiting alone, right?"

"That's true. Oh, I meant to ask, how is Nakamori-keibu doing? I heard about what happened with that hit-and-run after that KID heist a while ago…"

"Oh, he's fine. Still chasing that damn thief like nothing happened," Aoko said, waving a hand lazily. "He's completely obsessed."

Ran offered her a sympathetic smile. "I guess there's just something about KID that detectives can't leave alone," she said. "I'm a little worried Shinichi might end up like that. He never misses a heist these days."

Aoko was suddenly alert, sitting up much straighter in her chair. "He better not be encouraging that behavior in Kaito. I was counting on Kudou-kun to shake him out of it!"

Ran laughed and shook her head. "He's not going for fun… or maybe he is," she amended as an afterthought. "But he's trying to _catch_ KID. Though it's pretty obvious he's got a lot of respect for him too."

" _Respect_?" Aoko spat the word out bitterly. "What's there to respect about that no-good thief?"

"You sound just like Nakamori-keibu," Ran said, laughter in her voice. "I can see you're both pretty passionate about it. But then, how do you and Kuroba-kun even get along with him being such a big KID fan?" Although, she supposed, it wasn't _so_ far-fetched. After all, she didn't like KID either, but Sonoko definitely fell into the "rabid fan" category, and, while it was a little annoying, it wasn't a big enough deal to really even mention. But she couldn't imagine how much worse it must be for Aoko, with her burning hatred of the thief and how mixed up it all was in her family life.

Aoko just sighed. "Kaito's a nuisance, but I know he means well. He's just sort of always been there, you know?" she said with a shrug.

Ran's smile turned a little sad and her eyes moved down to the glossy tabletop. "Maybe…" she said. "Shinichi and I grew up together but… I don't know." She pushed out a sigh of her own and leaned back a little against her chair. "He sort of lacks people skills I guess. But I try to look past that when I can."

"Lacks people skills? What do you mean?"

Ran's face scrunched up a little in a grimace as she reluctantly began a list. "Like, he can be really blunt and a little insensitive, and he'll forget holidays and special occasions, or run off without saying anything and just… disappear… Sometimes for months at a time." She looked up to find Aoko staring at her.

"He _what_?" she bit out, her whole body suddenly tense in her seat. "You're saying Kudou-kun might just take off one day without a word to anyone? That he's done this before?"

"Well… he did call me… eventually. And he swears it was something really important. Some big case he was working on that had him gone for a couple of years. But he won't tell me anything else–"

"A couple of…" Aoko's voice was faint, trailing off before coming back firm. "No. No way." She stood, palms slapped flat on the little table, her chair scraping loudly against the floor and drawing the eyes of each of the few other customers and the clerk behind the counter. Ran ducked her head a little.

"Aoko-chan…"

"He is _not_ doing that to Kaito."

Ran opened her mouth, wanting to defend her friend, but her voice died. While she would have liked to say that Shinichi wouldn't do that… really, she thought he might. After all, as Aoko had said, he'd done it before.

It was at that moment that Kaito pushed through the door of the café, dragging Shinichi along in his wake and waving cheerfully at Aoko and Ran. He had seen Aoko become suddenly angry, had seen Ran shrink back in her seat looking guilty, and had decided that maybe some intervention was in order. How had this managed to go wrong already?

"Hey you two, I see you found the place okay," he said, but he trailed to a halt, a little baffled when Aoko's expression turned sad when she looked at him, then cutting when she spotted Shinichi behind him.

"Oh hell," he breathed out.

"What?" Shinichi whispered back, leaning to look around Kaito.

Aoko walked up to them, her movements brisk, and snatched Kaito's hand away from Shinichi to pull him over to the table and sit him down in her chair across from Ran. Then, without a word, she proceeded to drag Shinichi off by his jacket toward a back corner booth. As Shinichi stumbled after her, he threw a slightly panicked glance over his shoulder at Kaito. The look the thief gave him was a mix of dread and resignation and Shinichi turned his focus back to Aoko, feeling somewhat like he'd been left to the wolves.

At the table, Kaito drew his eyes away from Shinichi's retreating back and over to Ran, hoping to get some information. Ran's face was slightly pink and she was half hiding behind her hand even as she said, "Nice to see you again, Kuroba-kun."

"Nice to see you too," Kaito offered with a tentative smile. "Can I ask…?" His eyes moved back to the corner booth. Shinichi had been shoved into the side facing away from their table and Aoko was sitting across from him, a scowl on her face. Kaito cringed a little and his eyes quickly swept over the rest of the café, scanning for any mops that might have been left sitting out.

"It's nothing really… Maybe…" Ran said, looking at her hands. "How… protective would you say Aoko-chan is of you?"

Kaito blinked at her. "Of _me_?" he asked.

"I… mentioned something that happened a while ago and I think now she's… well, she's worried for you, that's all. So don't be upset with her."

"…And why would I be upset with her?" Kaito said slowly. This was definitely foreign territory for him and he felt the need to tread cautiously.

Ran glanced over her shoulder at where Aoko was speaking sternly to Shinichi. She turned back with a little sigh. "I guess that depends. I don't know her so I can only guess, but she seemed really upset and she might… take it out on Shinichi."

Kaito took a few extra seconds to watch Ran, still analyzing. "…You told her he disappeared for two years, didn't you," he said. Ran nodded and Kaito smiled. "I think we'll be fine then," he said casually, folding his arms behind his head and tilting his chair back a little. "Shinichi could always do with another lecture on being considerate of people's feelings." He grinned and it was sharp around the edges. "I mean, if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm still kind of… displeased, I guess, that he didn't tell anybody we were dating for three months. But I know he didn't mean anything by it. He's just a little oblivious when it comes to stuff like that. I know that, and I'm seeing to it now that he knows it too. I think a lot of times he's not aware that you can hurt people by doing nothing at all, but he's pretty good at apologies when he wants to be… once someone points it out to him."

Ran blinked across the table at him, trying to take in all he'd said. After a few seconds, she settled a little more comfortably into her chair, a small smile on her face as she considered Kaito. "You're a people person, aren't you Kuroba-kun," she said.

Kaito shrugged. "I'm observant," he allowed. "And I like to make people happy. If that makes me a people person, then I guess that's what I am."

"Heh, well good luck with Shinichi, then. I know he's smart, but he can be really dense, and completely childish sometimes. He'll get attached to you, I think. So you better take care of him, Kuroba-kun."

"Hm?" Kaito let his chair come back down onto the floor, blinking innocently at her. "You really think he needs taking care of?"

Ran just laughed. "I _know_ he does!" she said. "The trouble he gets into? I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to start taking karate just in case. I could give you some lessons if you want."

Kaito let out a nervous little laugh of his own. "I don't know if I'd be up for that," he said, one hand moving sheepishly to the back of his head.

"Come on, it's easy," Ran said. "You just focus…" She closed her eyes and took in a deep, silent breath, her arms pulling in at her sides, hands in fists, and Kaito's whole body tensed involuntarily. "And then–"

Ran's arm extended with enough speed to ruffle the air and Kaito jerked back so fast he overturned his chair and wound up on the floor, staring wide-eyed at the fist above him.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" Ran said immediately, her face completely red as she jumped up from her seat and ran around the table. "I wasn't going to hit you, really! Are you okay? I am so sorry, I was just teasing you!"

Kaito had started laughing somewhere in the middle of Ran's hovering, and he accepted her hand to get back on his feet. "It's okay," he said with a grin. "Nothing less from a regional champion, huh?" He hooked his foot under the back of the fallen chair and flicked it back up onto its legs without a glance. "Sorry, I guess I overreacted a little. But hey, I know who to call now if Shinichi ever gets into trouble, right?"

Something like appreciation settled into Ran's eyes. "Yeah, sure thing," she said with a bright smile.

.

Aoko pulled Shinichi to the back table and pushed him down into the booth. When she sat down across from him, her glare made it very clear that he was not to try leaving before she was through with him.

"Uh… You're Nakamori Aoko-san, right?" Shinichi said, trying to sound conversational and not quite managing it.

"That's right," Aoko answered stiffly. "And you're Kudou Shinichi, savior of the police force."

"…Why do I feel like I should be apologizing right now?"

"Look, I've only got one question for you, _Kudou-san_ ," she said in a clipped, no-nonsense tone. "What are your intentions with Kaito?"

"Wh-What?" Shinichi choked out. "My… _intentions_? What are you–?"

"Are you serious about him?" Aoko asked.

"Yes? I don't understand–"

"So, long-term, where do you see this going?"

Shinichi felt his face starting to warm but he crossed his arms and leaned back against the bench seat, trying to ignore it. "Look, Nakamori-san, I know Kaito is your friend, but this is getting kind of personal. What are you trying to get at here?"

She watched him for a few seconds before crossing her arms as well and stating bluntly, "I want to know if you're going to just up and leave him if something more interesting comes along."

Shinichi stared at her, his expression flat. "First of all," he said. "Finding something more _interesting_ than Kaito is not an easy feat." Aoko blinked back at him, slightly bewildered by the unexpected response. Had his tone not been so defensive, she might have laughed. "I'd like to know why you're asking me this."

"…Well, it's happened before, hasn't it?" Aoko said and Shinichi didn't pretend to misunderstand.

"I didn't have a choice in that."

Aoko was quiet for a few moments, taking that in. "…And what if that happens again? What happens to Kaito? Is he just never going to hear from you again?"

Shinichi tried to consider her question, but he couldn't. His mind kept flinching away from even imagining that particular _what if._ He swallowed hard, forcing down what he knew was irrational fear, and managed to say, "Kaito wouldn't let that happen." For the second time, Aoko was taken aback by his answer. In her silence, Shinichi managed to collect himself and continued, "He won't let me disappear, and I don't want him to. I appreciate your concern though. It's nice to know he's got people looking out for him."

Aoko's expression seemed to turn softer for just a moment before her scowl returned and she jabbed a finger at his face. "I _am_ looking out for him, Kudou-kun, so I've got my eye on you. Understood?" she said firmly.

"Yeah, I got it," Shinichi answered innocently. Then Aoko took in a startled gasp, pulling her hand back to cover her mouth, her eyes fixed on something across the café somewhere behind Shinichi. Then he heard a clatter and he whipped around to see Ran still seated with her arm extended across the table. Kaito seemed to have vanished. At second glance, he noticed him sitting on the floor beside an overturned chair. Shinichi's hand came up, covering his face. "What is wrong with my life?" he muttered to no one in particular.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up to see Aoko sliding over to the edge of her bench, about to stand. "I don't think she really hit him," Shinichi said quickly and Aoko paused to glance at him. When she looked back to the table, Ran was already leaning over Kaito, and Kaito was laughing.

Shinichi gave Aoko a slightly apologetic smile and a small shrug when she looked back at him. "Your guess is as good as mine," he said in response to the question written across her face.

Aoko considered him for a few moments more. "All right, Kudou-kun," she said slowly. "If I've made myself perfectly clear, I suppose we can go back over there and see what's what." Her tone implied that he was getting off easy and ought to be grateful.

"Thank you," he said, hoping it didn't come out sounding patronizing. "You did. Perfectly clear."

Aoko smiled brightly. "Good," she said, and Shinichi let out a small breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He wasn't sure, but it felt like he'd passed some kind of test, or at least gotten a reprieve of some kind. And for now, that would have to do.


	17. Chapter 17

**Case 17 – Doves**

.

Kaito had long since decided that he loved the roof of the Kudou manor, even before he'd been a welcome guest both beneath and on top of it. Even more excellent, his doves loved it too, making themselves at home on the staggered peaks. Kaito had been entertaining himself, sitting up on the roof one weekend teaching them tricks as they lobbied for treats when he heard one of the windows below him scrape open.

"Oi, Kaito, you up there?" Shinichi's voice called from it.

Kaito grinned at his doves. "You guys want to officially meet my detective?" he asked. Almost as one, the birds tipped their heads to the side, regarding him curiously. Kaito got up and stepped carefully through the flock and over to the edge of the roof, his footsteps completely silent. He crouched above the window and leaned fearlessly over the side to grin down at Shinichi. "Come on up, Tantei-kun," he said, offering his hand.

Shinichi gave him a doubtful look, but climbed up on the windowsill anyway, taking Kaito's hand. Kaito shifted, bracing himself a little more firmly on the roof to pull Shinichi upward as he clambered less than gracefully onto the slanted surface. "You and high places, I swear," he muttered as he stood.

Kaito threw his arms out to either side. "How can you not love it?" he said cheerfully. "All the open air and sky." He laughed as a few doves fluttered over to perch on his outstretched arms and on his head, but one flew to Shinichi instead, latching onto his shoulder and startling him enough that he wobbled precariously on the sloped shingles. Kaito reached out and snagged the back of his shirt without displacing a single dove. "Careful there, Tantei-kun."

When he was sure Shinichi had regained his balance, he let go and moved to take a seat beside him. Shinichi followed his lead, settling down on the warm roof to look out over his yard. The dove on his shoulder shuffled closer, pressing its feathers against his cheek.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Shinichi said, though somewhat fondly, and Kaito, watching out of the corner of his eye with a small amount of anxiety that he would never admit to, smiled and relaxed.

"I think she likes you," he said.

Shinichi lifted the dove carefully from his shoulder and brought her down to hold her against his chest. She shifted at first, adjusting her wings before settling into the cradle of his hands and nuzzling into his shirt.

"She remembers you," Kaito commented, watching her.

"What?" Shinichi, who had also had his eyes fixed on the bird in his hands, looked over at Kaito and stifled a small laugh. The magician was still covered in doves. Kaito beamed at him. Then, sobering, he said, "She's the one that got hurt that time with Scorpion."

"Oh…" Shinichi's gaze moved out to the streets in the distance without really seeing them. He remembered that night in Osaka very clearly – how it had not been nearly as terrifying back then to think that KID might have been shot, but really, even then, he hadn't quite believed it anyway. There had been no blood at the scene after all. Not even on the shattered monocle (which, he had learned much later, had been stolen right out of the police station where it was being held as evidence). The most worrying thing had actually been the wounded dove, because even then he'd known that KID would never have let that happen if he could have helped it. Shinichi looked down at the dove again, absently stroking her feathers with his fingertips. "I'm glad she's okay," he murmured. _I'm glad you're okay._ A few more doves took interest at the sound of his voice and transferred their perch over to Shinichi in curiosity as the dove in his hands started to doze. "What's her name?" he asked Kaito.

"Lucky," Kaito answered in English.

Shinichi laughed a little. "A bit ironic."

Kaito hummed thoughtfully, giving Shinichi a sidelong glance. "Maybe not," he said.

"What's that mean?"

"Gave me an excuse to stop by and help you out, didn't it?"

"…Were you _looking_ for an excuse?"

Kaito shifted and the doves still perched on him stirred as well, sensing his unease. "…I _was_ grateful you took care of her for me. Still am. But I think I would have come to help you anyway. I could see Mouri-chan getting suspicious of you and… well, I'd figured you had good reasons for keeping such a big secret. I just… wanted to help you out. Because I wanted to." He could feel his cheeks getting red and he turned his face away, but Shinichi did not fail to notice. A smirk turned his lips up with easy familiarity.

"Idiot."

Shinichi had barely had the thought to reach for Kaito, had not even had time to revise that thought to account for the doves, when they all suddenly took flight in a snowstorm of wings, leaving his way clear. Without missing a beat, he moved to gently turn Kaito's face back toward him and kissed him, eagerly taking in the warmth of Kaito's lips even as he felt his own cheeks coloring. They stayed close when they settled back again, shoulders pressed against each other, and Shinichi glanced back as the doves returned one by one, forming a line along the crest of the roof, all watching them with soft, low trills like laughter.

"I like your doves," Shinichi said, laughing himself.

"They do seem to have a good sense for these sorts of things," Kaito mused, also glancing behind him with a look of playful suspicion. "Hey, do you guys wanna give us some privacy?" he called back to them.

The trilling escalated briefly before all of them flew off as one graceful unit and Shinichi watched, a little in awe in spite of himself, before Kaito's hand was suddenly on his cheek, guiding his face back to his again to steal another kiss under the warm sunlight on the roof.


	18. Chapter 18

**Case 18 – Cold Case**

.

" _Mouri Kogoro is nothing but a fool. He hasn't actually solved a relevant case in months."_

" _Does he know you're watching?"_

" _No. He definitely doesn't. …Sir, I think we should be watching Kudou Sh–"_

" _Do what you want, Cognac; I don't care. But if it turns out you're wrong about Mouri, the only thing you're going to be watching out for is Chianti's rifle."_

"… _Yes, sir."_

.

Kaito hadn't been expecting Shinichi, but when he saw him on his doorstep he grinned and threw open the door.

"Shinichi!"

"Hey." He stepped inside and handed the file folder he'd been carrying over to Kaito as he bent to remove his shoes. Kaito glanced at the folder – clearly a case file – then back at Shinichi before flipping it open. He skimmed over the first few pages.

"…What's up?"

Shinichi led the way into the living room and sat down, knowing Kaito was already in the process of reading him rather than waiting for his answer. Kaito joined him on the couch, the folder resting in his lap, and decided that Shinichi had a serious mood about him, and that he was slightly nervous but also _excited_ in the very specific way he always was when diving into dangerous cases. He tore his eyes away from Shinichi and looked again at the file, reading more closely now as Shinichi began to explain.

"I think I finally found one," he said. "I've been looking for a while now – I thought, with all the things the Organization seems to get away with, there had to be some cold cases that they were behind. I think this is one of them."

Kaito was fully immersed in the file now – a murder case from two years ago in a small town a few hours away by train. A priest and a dog had been killed in a church, but the reason was unknown. Particularly strange was that nothing had been taken from the church even though it happened to house a large gem. In fact, the only other sign that anyone had been there was a broken mirror in a wardrobe in the back, a large piece of which had been left on the floor in the chancel.

Shinichi saw the moment Kaito came upon the mention of the jewel. He looked up abruptly, meeting Shinichi's eyes, and knew they were both thinking the same thing. Kaito dropped the open file onto the coffee table and got up, hurrying to his room to grab his laptop and bring it back. He threw the lid open and started typing and clicking at ridiculous speeds and Shinichi caught glimpses of spreadsheets and internet pages and windows with programs he didn't recognize that he suspected Kaito had written himself to help him find and track Pandora candidates. He looked away quickly, feeling like these were things that, as a detective, he shouldn't be seeing. He'd rather not know.

Kaito suddenly reached around the laptop and flipped through the file to a photo of the crime scene and snapped a picture of it with his phone to send to his computer. After some cross-referencing with some less than legal but reliable sources, he finally found a match.

"Looks like it used to be known as the Devil's Eye," Kaito said, eyes still flicking over the screen. "Oh, I've heard of this one. There was this older woman who was rumored to have a jewel that she kept under serious lock and key – in a Kichiemon safe."

Shinichi cringed. "Like the Iron Tanuki?" he asked.

Kaito just smirked. "The story goes that even _she_ didn't know how to open it – that she had a set of instructions, but she kept them sealed up with the paperwork for her will so that the safe would never be opened until after she died."

"Did she leave the jewel to somebody in her will or something?" Shinichi asked.

"Yeah, but it's not what you're thinking. Supposedly, she was _afraid_ of the jewel. She felt like it was watching her, so she locked it up and left it to a church on the condition that they keep it instead of selling it off. Her final wish was that it be purified and blessed by the priests there. They even changed its name. It's called the Holy Heart now."

"…How do you know all of this?" Shinichi asked, amazed.

Kaito smirked at him. "I have a lot of connections with a lot of interested parties," he said simply.

"Do your connections know when she died? When did the church end up with it?"

"Looks like… she died in an accident about two years ago." He could see the excitement flare in Shinichi's eyes and was instantly wary. "What do you think will come of this?" he asked.

"What do you mean? If we already know this much more about what might have happened, we have a real chance of figuring out the rest and solving this case."

"Hey, it's not that I'm not all for catching the bad guys and serving up some long-deserved justice." He glanced again at the folder on the table, at the name of the victim listed there, before looking back at Shinichi. "But do you really think this will lead to a break in the Organization case?" _Or are you going to end up poking a sleeping dragon for no reason?_

Shinichi sighed quietly and lowered his eyes. "…The interrogations with Yasuda turned up nothing. The sniper who shot you, the fake security team from the Noda mansion… We've got to try a different approach."

"It's dangerous," Kaito said. "Sticking your nose into Organization cases again. If Gin finds out you survived…"

"It's more dangerous to just let them go on like they are."

"Tch, you never learn, do you." Kaito leaned back, folding his hands behind his head. "So? What's the next step here?"

"I'm gonna go there," Shinichi said, picking up the case file. "See if I can turn up anything new."

"Okay, I'm in."

"Huh?" Shinichi blinked at him. "In what? You mean you're coming with?"

"Of course," Kaito said through a small, mischievous grin.

"What for?"

He shrugged. "I might as well check this Devil's Eye gem, right? The legends around this thing are actually pretty promising."

"But they left it behind. If this really was the Organization, they would have checked it. The mirror–"

"We don't know for sure that it _was_ them, cause even if it doesn't contain Pandora, it doesn't make sense for them to leave a gem like that behind. I might as well check. Besides, what if you're right and the Organization _is_ involved? You really think I'm going to let you run off and do something stupid without me?"

"Heh, I guess not," Shinichi said, smirking back at him.

"Good. Then it's decided. When do we leave?"

.

When they arrived at the train station (that looked more like a bus stop to Shinichi) of the small town in the middle of nowhere, Kaito took Shinichi's bag and slung it over his own shoulder.

"Why don't you go ahead to the police station? They're expecting you, right? I'll get us checked in at the hotel."

"I'll be gone for a while," Shinichi said, casting a calculating glance his way. "What are you gonna do in the meantime?"

"Oh, this and that," he answered too innocently, but Shinichi let it go.

"All right," he said. "See you later." And they headed off in different directions.

.

Inspector Tsukuda was _not_ happy to see Shinichi. It was obvious from the moment he was shown to her office that she resented him being there, and resented that she had to deal with him.

"How old are you again?"

"Nineteen," Shinichi answered patiently.

"Uh huh. And Megure says you 'took an interest' in one of our cold cases."

"That's right."

Tsukuda settled back in her chair, propping her elbows on the armrests. "I don't know what you think you're going to find here that we didn't two years ago when the scene was still fresh. Honestly, I think you're wasting your time and mine."

Shinichi's jaw clenched a little tighter in restrained irritation. "I'm sorry to hear that, but it's important that I at least take a look. You don't need to go with me; I'll be fine on my own."

"Look kid, you're not an officer. I don't want you messing around with this without supervision. That was a good man who died, and you coming here and bringing it all up again is the last thing anyone needs. If it were up to me, you'd be right back on a train to Tokyo."

She was trying to intimidate him. It was obvious in her posture. Like she thought all of this was beneath her and wanted him to think so too. "Well it's a good thing it's not up to you," he said, perfectly blunt. "So are you coming or not?"

.

The short drive to the church went by in stubborn silence until Tsukuda pulled up in the tiny lot across the street. "Before we head over," she said, stopping Shinichi with his hand on the door handle. "Tell me what you've found so far. Why'd you pick this case?"

Shinichi barely glanced at her. "I'll tell you more when I'm more certain of what I've found." He got out and Tsukuda followed him over to the church building, quietly fuming over the arrogance of the big city teenage detective.

The two priests they met inside seemed much more receptive to Shinichi's investigation. "Such a tragedy," Father Miyake said when Shinichi explained why he was there. "If there's any chance the culprit can still be caught then by all means, take a look around. I'll be helping our volunteers clean up the grounds outside, but I'm sure Father Ito will be happy to show you around."

The elderly Father Ito smiled at them and proceeded to lead them around the church, pointing out every little thing. ("That chip in the pew there is where one of the altar servers dropped a candle holder – they're very heavy, you know. And that nick in the wall, that happened while the Uchino girls were playing…") By the time they made it to the chancel at the back of the church, Shinichi was only half listening as he took reference pictures with his phone, and Tsukuda looked so bored she might have actually been sleepwalking.

"Now, please don't touch anything back in this area," Ito said as they came around the altar. Shinichi glanced up at the decorative gates that spanned the back wall as Ito launched into a detailed description of the type of marble they'd have liked to use for the altar if it had been less expensive, but then he spotted the tabernacle standing at the center and wandered toward it. Fixed onto the gold plated box was a large purple gemstone. Shinichi leaned in, examining it closely, and was slightly startled when he felt someone lean in close beside him on either side.

"What are you looking at?" Ito said from his right.

"Did you find something?" Tsukuda asked from his left.

"Oh, well, it's just… Is this stone made to be removable?" he asked Ito.

"Of course not," Ito said. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just…" He pulled a latex glove from his pocket and put it on, already reaching for the jewel, but Tsukuda grabbed his wrist.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, kid," she said. "Father Ito asked us not to touch anything back here."

"Oh… right. Sorry."

"I'm sure he didn't mean any harm," Ito said, all smiles. "Why don't we take a look at the back room through here? I heard once that a long time ago one of the younger priests managed to lock himself in the wardrobe. See the latch is particularly tricky…" Ito headed through a doorway off to the side and Tsukuda and Shinichi, after taking a close-up picture of the jewel, followed after him, but Shinichi couldn't help but cast another glance back at the tabernacle.

 _There's something off about it,_ he thought as Ito rambled on. _But I guess there's not much I can determine like this. I can ask Kaito about it later._

He continued to follow Ito out onto the grounds through the back door of the church. People were bustling about, pulling weeds and trimming greenery and watering flowers.

"Come meet everyone," Ito said, bringing them over to Father Miyake and his group. "This is Teruzane-san; he's our volunteer organizer."

A middle-aged man straightened up, grinning, and dragged the back of his hand across his face, leaving a line of dirt over his nose. "Nice ta meet ya," he said.

"And you've met Father Miyake. We've got some kids from the high school helping out, and then our groundskeeper is… Where's Inakura-san?"

Father Miyake stood, wiping his hands on a handkerchief, and looked around. "That's strange. I thought she was helping Nagase-san with the hose. Ah, wait. Here she comes."

An old woman came around the corner of the church building. There was a high school girl with her, and an older man carrying a large watering can. Father Miyake waved them over.

"Who's all this, then?" the man asked. "More volunteers? Looks like I'm out of luck! You've got so many young helpers already!"

"I wouldn't give up hope just yet," the old woman said, patting the man on the arm and smiling up at him. "I'm sure we can work something out." She turned to Tsukuda and Shinichi. "Good afternoon, Tsukuda-keibu. What brings you by, dear?"

"We've got a visitor in from the city; I'm just showing him around a bit," she said vaguely.

"Kudou Shinichi," Shinichi said. "Nice to meet you."

"Kudou Shinichi?" the man with the watering can repeated in obvious surprise. Everyone turned to look at him. "Er, sorry, the name just sounds kind of familiar," he said. "You don't think so?" A few people traded shrugs and shook their heads. "Ah, heh, must just be me then."

"Well, we won't keep you any longer," Tsukuda said.

"That's right; these plants won't water themselves!" The man hefted the watering can. "Lead the way, Inakura-san!"

The old woman beamed at him and headed off, and the man and the girl followed as Shinichi and Tsukuda moved off farther out onto the grounds.

"Who was that guy?" Shinichi asked, casting a quick glance over his shoulder. He was surprised to see that for the first time since they arrived Father Ito was no longer with them. Shinichi hadn't even noticed, but it seemed he'd gone off with Inakura and the others instead, walking with them toward the flowers along the side of the church.

"I think that must be Hidaka-san. He's actually from the city, but he's thinking about moving out here if he can find work."

Shinichi glanced back again just in time to see an enormous brown dog bounding up behind him. He turned, startled, and the dog barreled into him, toppling him into the grass.

"Kuma!" Tsukuda shouted. She wrapped her arms around the dog, trying to haul it back and away from Shinichi but it didn't seem to notice.

"It's okay, he's fine," Shinichi said. He kept still while the dog, Kuma, stood over him, paws planted firmly on either side of him and prodding Shinichi all over with his nose, making little snuffling sounds. Apparently he passed inspection because Kuma let out one deep bark and his tail started in a quick swish. Shinichi slid out from under him but stayed seated in the grass. "Hey – Kuma, you said? – Hey, Kuma." He grinned and offered his hand and, when Kuma barely bothered to sniff at it, decided it would be safe to pet him. A few seconds later, Kuma was all but sitting on him, leaning in to the scratches behind his ears.

"He doesn't have a collar," Shinichi said, barely holding back laughter as the huge dog rolled over on him, knocking him over again. "Is he a stray?"

"Not really," Tsukuda said, looking down at them with an odd expression. "Father Miyake takes care of him. He never leaves the church grounds."

"There was a dog killed at the church two years ago, right?" He pulled himself back up again and switched to slower, more soothing strokes, hoping to calm Kuma down. "Was that a similar situation?"

"Oh… Yes. Kuma's not nearly as well-trained as Kyo was. …Father Yoshimoto was the one who trained Kyo. But just having Kuma around makes everyone feel a little safer, you know?"

Shinichi looked up at her. "Was Kyo a guard dog?"

"I guess, in a way."

His eyes went distant and his hand went to his chin, deep in thought, but a moment later, Kuma was licking his face and he was laughing again. "Okay, okay, I get it! I need to get back to work; you're right." He got to his feet and leaned over to give Kuma another pat. "Go on now." He made a shooing motion that Kuma seemed to recognize because the dog turned and bounded off toward the church, ears flapping as he raced for Hidaka instead.

Shinichi rubbed his sleeve over his face and turned to Tsukuda again. "Hey, Tsukuda-keibu, did Father Yoshimoto live on the grounds?"

"Yes – the church provides housing for the priests assigned here. It's just over there."

He followed her gesture and stared off toward the building for a short time, looking thoughtful again. Tsukuda glanced over at him. "…You want to see it, don't you," she sighed.

Shinichi blinked and looked over at her, a bright smile on his face. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble."

.

The sun was setting when Shinichi made it back to the tiny hotel near the church. The person tending the desk in the modest lobby looked extremely young and extremely bored. She barely glanced up from her manga when Shinichi walked in.

"You're the other one in from the city, yeah?" she said. "You're in 221. Your brother's up there with the keys already."

"He's… not my brother," Shinichi said. _But I bet he requested that room number,_ he thought with a smirk.

The girl glanced up again, looked him over, then went back to her manga. "Yeah, sure he's not," she muttered, and Shinichi started slightly at the sharp voice from around the corner.

" _Manners!_ " it called.

"Sorry, Tou-san!" the girl called back. "Enjoy your stay!" she said brightly to Shinichi, rolling her eyes over a forced smile. He tried not to laugh as he headed for the stairs.

"Thanks."

As an afterthought, he paused and turned back to her. "Has someone named Hidaka checked in to this hotel?" he asked.

"Tomorrow," the girl replied, flipping a page.

Shinichi smirked. "Right. Thank you."

.

The door to the hotel room opened before Shinichi had the chance to knock. Kaito was standing on the other side and Shinichi could tell immediately that something was wrong. He could barely seem to hold still, turning and pacing the length of the room as soon as Shinichi was inside, but it wasn't his normal excessive energy. He seemed agitated. Nervous.

"Hey, Hidaka-san," Shinichi said, watching him carefully, testing the waters.

"Oh good, you already figured it out." Kaito came to a stop in the middle of the room to face Shinichi, but his words had taken on the brisk pace his feet had abandoned. "Now I don't have to waste time explaining how I know about this and I can just skip to asking you what the hell you were thinking introducing yourself like that. We're right in the middle of a possible Organization case and you just say, 'Hey, I'm Kudou Shinichi. You know, the guy you tried to kill for sticking his nose into your business! By the way, do you wanna help me solve a two-year-old murder?'"

"What did you _expect_ me to do?" Shinichi asked, honestly baffled. "I'm barely out of high school, Kaito. I can't do anything without the reputation I've built. No name, no reputation."

"Megure would vouch for you," Kaito said, but Shinichi was already shaking his head.

"He doesn't have that kind of authority on his own. He's got to give them a reason to make exceptions for me. Besides," He went to the bed and dropped down on the edge of it. "Every time I tell him not to mention my name, he keeps pressing me to find out why."

"So _tell him_!" Kaito said, throwing his arms out. "Don't you think just _maybe_ the _police_ would be, I don't know, _helpful_ in this situation?"

Shinichi waited to respond until Kaito's energy had dissipated somewhat. His arms dropped to his sides again and he turned away, pacing over to the window, his fingers rubbing at his forehead. "If they find out what's going on," Shinichi said patiently, "they'll limit my involvement. I'm still a civilian, Kaito. And a kid as far as they're concerned. They'd probably shut me out completely for my own protection. No more cases. No more heists. Nothing."

"Ugh, playing by the rules is so _obnoxious_. Why does it always feel like the police can't do anything at all?"

Shinichi shot a glare his way. He'd always been leaning toward becoming a police detective rather than an independent private investigator, and after living at the Mouri Detective Agency he was certain. The kind of inane cases that came in and the sheer inconsistency of the case load in general were just not appealing. He wanted to solve murders and catch criminals, and it stung a little every time Kaito made light of the police. "Kaito–" he started, warning in his tone.

"I know, I know. Sorry." Kaito folded his arms and dropped his back against the wall beside the window, glaring at the spiral patterns in the carpet.

"…You really think there's something to this case, don't you," Shinichi said, still watching him.

Kaito was quiet for a moment but then he let out a sigh. The lines between his eyebrows eased and the glare softened. "I intend to find out tonight."

"I thought you never steal without a notice." Shinichi got up and went to the desk in the corner where Kaito had left his bag and pulled out the case file.

"I'm not going to steal it," Kaito said. "I'm just going to check it. If it's the real deal… Then it'll be a different story. But unless it is, I'd rather not draw the Organization's attention here. Not before you solve this case."

"About that," Shinichi muttered, sitting at the desk and opening the file. "Did you get a look at the gem yet?"

"Just a quick look, yeah. Why, what's up?"

"It looked a little odd to me. Do you think it could have been made to be removable?"

"Nah," Kaito said, waving him off. "I know what you mean, but it's just bad craftsmanship. It was added on later and they probably didn't want to pay a lot of money to have it done well. Still," he added. "I'll take a closer look tonight and let you know what I find."

Shinichi nodded distantly, his chin propped on his hand and his eyes on the file. Kaito sighed. "Three… two… one!" He snapped his fingers and Shinichi jumped slightly when a little puff of smoke suddenly engulfed the folder. When it cleared, the file was gone, replaced with a sheet of paper with a large KID doodle drawn on it. "Let's take a break," he suggested, brandishing the folder.

"Heh. …Yeah, all right. Dinner?"

.

"It shouldn't take more than ten minutes," Kaito was saying as he dashed about the small hotel room getting ready that night, all energy and excitement. Shinichi smiled a little to himself as his eyes trailed over the papers from the case file that he had spread over the desk. He hadn't realized just how much Kaito loved and looked forward to his heists until that moment. Even this one, where the planning was minimal and the theft much more… private than his usual heists, had Kaito radiating happiness.

Shinichi turned in the chair as Kaito finally came to a stop beside the window and was surprised to see that he had not donned his usual white suit. He was, in fact, wearing the most ordinary of street clothes. "Really? No cape and top hat tonight?" he asked skeptically.

Kaito tsked at him, tilting one finger in time with the sound. "Of course there will be," he answered. "But I don't want any chance of KID being seen coming or going from your hotel room, Tantei-kun. Think of the _rumors_!" He grinned wickedly and Shinichi actually laughed. It hardly mattered that he wasn't dressed as the Moonlight Magician – that grin was as KID as they come.

"Good luck, KID," he said, smirking. "And be careful."

"Of course." His smile softened to the one he reserved only for Shinichi. "See you soon, Tantei-kun." Then he vanished out the window without a sound.

.

Shinichi sighed and finally started gathering up the pages he'd laid out across the bed. He was missing something, he was sure of it, but then that was the trouble with working on a case like this one in the middle of the night. He'd been staring at it for hours now, ever since he and Kaito had gotten back from dinner, and he wasn't making any progress. It was beginning to feel an awful lot like hitting his head repeatedly against a wall and expecting it to give up answers.

Stuffing the reports back into their folder, he tossed them onto the desk and scooped up the thin stack of photographs from the crime scene two years ago. He dropped into the chair and fanned them out, then pulled his cell phone from his pocket and set it down beside them, opening the photos he'd taken at the church earlier that day. Maybe comparing them would do something to ease the nagging sense that something was off. At this point he didn't hold out much hope.

The tip of his pen had somehow found its way between his teeth again and it bobbed up and down as he stared at the pictures. The priest's body had been found in the center aisle, most of the way up toward the altar. Kyo, the dog, had been close by as well.

 _But why was Kyo even there? He shouldn't have been in the church building at all, unless… Maybe the priest knew someone was inside. Or,_ he thought. _Maybe Kyo had been the one to alert him that there was an intruder. Of course he'd take the dog with him in that case._

 _There was no unidentified blood at the scene or in Kyo's teeth, so he must have been killed first. Otherwise he would have attacked the intruder when Yoshimoto was being strangled. But then… why were their bodies so close by each other? Wouldn't Yoshimoto have tried to run when the intruder attacked Kyo?_

… _What if there was more than one intruder?_

Shinichi let out a quiet grumble around the pen in his mouth and leaned back in the chair. It was really only speculation, but he'd keep it in mind.

"What else?" he mumbled. He shifted through the pictures and came across the one showing the piece of mirror on the floor of the chancel near the tabernacle. It was, of course, an obvious oddity in the crime scene. The police hadn't known what to make of it at all. It hadn't been used as a weapon or a tool as far as anyone could tell, but it seemed deliberate – that one large piece being carried into the chancel from the back room. Shinichi and Kaito had both immediately assumed that it was used to reflect moonlight onto the gem, but that wasn't a theory he really wanted to share with the police if he could avoid it. Still, even knowing what it might have been used for, it was strange. Someone had gone to some trouble to get that piece of mirror.

He flipped to a picture of the wardrobe in the back room. It had been found closed, but after taking the prints from it, the police had gotten it open (with some difficulty) and found the mirror on the inside of the door smashed.

 _Wait… That's right…_ Shinichi thought, picking the picture up and looking more closely at it. _There was something wrong with the latch. Father Ito had mentioned it, too. That it tended to close on its own and the latch would catch and that it was difficult to open._

"So basically this wardrobe is a real pain," Shinichi muttered, folding his arms. "What I still don't get is why they didn't just _bring_ a mirror with them to check the jewel." His hand went to his chin. "Why mess with a wardrobe that–" He cut off suddenly, the thought grinding to a halt. _How did they even know there was a mirror inside the wardrobe? And if they were just looking around for a mirror and wanted to check inside, did they really bother fighting with that broken latch to get it open instead of just breaking the latch off? And what about the fingerprints? They got it open, obviously, but the only fingerprints on it belonged to the two priests assigned to the church at the time – the victim, Yoshimoto and Father Ito. The officers who had investigated the scene hadn't even been_ able _to get the thing open with their gloves on. And if the intruder had been wearing gloves when they attempted to open it, they would have rubbed the existing prints away…_

He sat up straighter as his heart sped a little out of some instinct that told him he was close. That something was about to click.

 _So someone opened that wardrobe, and if the prints are to be believed, it could only have been one of the two priests. Had the victim opened it and smashed the mirror for some reason? Did he come in through the back, smash the mirror, and take a piece of it as a weapon to defend himself or to threaten the intruder?_ He shook his head, taking the pen from his mouth and tapping the end of it against the desk. _No, the back door was still locked when the police arrived on the scene. The front was standing open. And if he thought he needed a weapon even with Kyo there, wouldn't it have been smarter to leave and call the police? So if the victim hadn't done it…_

 _Ito._

Shinichi leaned back again and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes as he tried to remember everything he'd seen at the church that day. He hadn't thought much of Ito's behavior at the time – hanging back, but always somewhere nearby as Shinichi and Tsukuda wandered the church and the grounds, stopping to chat with the groundskeeper and Kaito whenever Shinichi's and Tsukuda's path had crossed near theirs. He had been welcoming enough when Shinichi had first arrived, and Kaito hadn't mentioned noticing anything strange…

There was still something just out of his reach. _Ito had gone on and on about random facts about the church,_ he thought. _What had he talked about? Damage to a pew and a wall. The altar materials. Lack of funds–_

His eyes flew open. "The gem," he said in realization. "When it was added on, it was cheaply done – it _looks_ like it's removable. What if Ito had thought the same thing back when he'd first come to the church?" He swiped over to the photo of the tabernacle he'd taken earlier that day on his phone and zoomed in on the gem. _If he went in the middle of the night to take it and found it actually wasn't removable like Kaito said…_ He pictured suddenly the art museum exhibit flooded with moonlight from KID's mirror setup so that he could check the diamond without having to move the statue it was imbedded in. _If the Devil's Eye isn't actually removable, and the tabernacle can't be easily moved, he would have gone for the mirror he_ knew _was in the wardrobe. He could have opened it without gloves because no one would question his fingerprints on the door of the place where they keep the priests' vestments._

Shinichi let out a small sigh. _But Ito had come to the church a month_ before _the woman had died and donated the gem to it. He couldn't have known she'd decided to leave the Devil's Eye to that church, could he? From what Kaito said, it seemed like the only reason she'd even done it was because she felt like… it…_

 _Those bastards,_ Shinichi thought, clenching his teeth. _Kaito even said it. She felt like she was being watched. And she was. By the Organization._

It all fit. They'd put their man in place at the church and then murdered the woman, knowing the previously inaccessible gem would end up there. He'd need hard evidence to support his theory and tomorrow he would pursue that _thoroughly_. But for now…

For now, "Father Ito" was still out there, and he had stayed at the church – at his own crime scene. For a reason. The only reason a member of the Organization would have gone through all this and still left a valuable jewel at a church in the middle of nowhere.

He wasn't just staying at the church. He was _waiting_ there. For KID.

Shinichi actually jumped out of the chair and onto his feet when, within the same moment of his realization, sirens went screaming past the hotel. He didn't bother looking out the window. He was out the door and running full-sprint after them before his mind had processed that he had moved.

.

KID made quick work of the basic alarm system and lock on the door that led into the back area of the church – enough to dissuade your typical small town thief, but laughable in the face of Kaitou KID – but he had to admit that it felt a little strange to be walking into a heist location that wasn't equipped with security cameras and watched by task force officers.

He made his way over to the open doorway that separated the back room from the chancel and stepped up onto the raised platform where the tabernacle stood. The Devil's Eye glistened, catching just snatches of light as KID pulled a small mirror from a pocket and angled it to catch the moonlight falling in segmented shafts through the tall windows. Light flashed on the jewel's facets, brightening the color of the stone, but nothing changed. The gem remained a rich but stoic purple and KID allowed himself a quiet sigh as he tucked the mirror away again.

A subtle sound behind him made him freeze for a moment. He waited, unmoving, until a voice called out from the front of the church.

"You there! What are you doing?"

KID hardly had to fake the grin that overtook his face. He recognized the voice, and he couldn't help the swell of excitement at the thought that he'd have an audience after all, even if just for a moment. He turned from the tabernacle and raised his hands in fake surrender. "Sorry," KID said, not the slightest bit sincere and not sounding it either. "Just taking a closer look, that's all." He leaned an elbow on the top of the tabernacle, his finger brushing across the surface of the gem as he grinned.

"Th-The Holy Heart!" Father Ito gasped, stopped cold in his rush up the aisle.

"Don't worry," KID said. "It's not what I'm looking for. I'll be leaving it behind." The grin never faltered, even as the priest started forward again with a scowl and a lecturing tone.

"Now you listen here, young man; that is a holy and blessed vessel of the Lord. I've never seen such blatant disrespect. I'll have you strung up by your cape if you don't get away from there this instant!" The old priest managed to land the last word on the same step that brought him right up in front of KID, his scolding finger wagging under KID's nose.

 _Geez, old man,_ KID thought, slightly put out by his reaction. _I didn't do anything to it; calm down._ However, he kept his poker face firmly set and took a step back to offer the priest a deep bow. "Of course. Rest assured, it's just fine." He turned back to glance again at tabernacle and saw too late the moment the priest moved. Ito was suddenly dragging him backwards, a length of leather pulled crushingly tight against KID's throat, and KID could already feel his consciousness slipping from the lack of blood-flow, cut off by the expertly executed hold. His vision had nearly gone black by the time he managed to dig his fingers between the garrote and his skin, pulling hard against it and easing the pressure on his neck just enough to feel the blood rush back through his veins. It was enough. It bought him the time he needed to find his card gun with his other hand.

In one quick motion, KID brought the barrel up behind his head and fired, the card slicing the leather as well as clipping Ito's fingers and the back of KID's head and neck. In seconds, KID was away from the priest and up the ornamental gate that spanned the back wall of the church, tucking himself in amongst the angel statues fixed upon it. He managed to keep himself from coughing, from gasping, from touching the abused skin at his neck or the cuts that were trickling blood down past the back of his shirt collar – but only barely.

He took in slow, carefully controlled breaths as he watched the priest. Ito watched him back, standing calm and confident, waiting for his prey to make a move. It was a bitter realization for KID – that he was prey – because this man was a seriously skilled killer and he clearly wanted KID dead.

When Ito suddenly moved, walking back to the center aisle in front of the altar, KID wasn't sure how to react. He watched carefully as the priest – or possibly fake priest, KID revised in his mind – grabbed a stack of song books from the pews and dropped them onto the floor in a jumble of bent spines and pages. Then he pulled a flask from his pocket and emptied it over them, a lighter already opened in his other hand.

KID immediately grabbed for the card gun and fired. His card struck Ito's hand, leaving an angry gash, and the lighter fell, but the flame still caught and the pile ignited violently. A smiled worked its way onto Ito's face as he absently squeezed the wound on his hand, watching the growing blaze, and KID felt a shiver run under his skin. The smile was soft. It even looked _kind._

The man continued piling books into the fire until it licked the wooden pews on either side and crawled out across the thin carpeting, and KID decided he did not want to stay there any longer. He waited for the right moment of distraction and slipped quietly down the wall, darting through the doorway into the back of the church and racing for the door, confident that by the time Ito noticed and caught up, he'd be well clear of the burning building.

Only the back door he'd come in through wouldn't open. There was a feeling curling up inside his stomach that told him that wasn't going to change even before he'd thrown his shoulder into it and heard the rattle of the heavy chains bracing it shut from the outside. He swore silently, running a quick check of the door to see if there was anything he could do to gain access to the lock on the other side but came up with nothing. Abandoning that option, KID quickly put the door at his back. Ito hadn't followed him. Surely he'd known – had seen to it – that KID could not get out that way, and the church had only one other exit. Bracing himself, all his senses on high alert, KID walked back out into the chancel.

The first thing he noticed was that Ito was no longer in sight. The second was that the fire had already grown far too large to try to put out, and the sprinkler system that had been added on to the old building was apparently just for show. It occurred to him that the whole setup reeked of foul intent – the old assassin with his long-term disguise, the old building with only two exits, the sprinklers that didn't actually function, the jewel with so much subtly promising lore around it – but it was too late now.

He moved cautiously toward the front of the church, plucking the ace he'd fired earlier out of the wall and vanishing it as he passed by. The fire was spreading, dark and hot and smoking horribly through the old carpet and pews and crawling up the altar cloth, the candles melting in the heat. KID edged slowly down a side aisle along an outside wall, eyes sharp and watchful over the rows of pews and columns of pillars along either side of the nave but there was no sign of Ito. He made it to the front doors without incident and checked them over carefully for traps before attempting to push one open. He heard the rattle of heavy chains from outside and the door remained firmly shut.

 _So he's probably long gone then,_ KID thought. _I suppose he thought he could just lock me in here and let me burn to death._ He scoffed, a sardonic smirk sharpening his features. _That seems pretty foolish. As long as there are windows, even if they're high up and don't open, I can still make it out._

He turned from the doors and at that moment Ito reappeared behind him, slung a double loop of wire around KID's throat, and wrenched him back. KID staggered with a choked off gasp and his hands went immediately to his neck, but he couldn't get a grip on the thin wire biting into his skin. The ends of the wire were already wrapped together around one of Ito's hands, held close at the back of KID's neck, freeing the other to grab the card gun away the moment KID went to retrieve it.

"Now, now," Ito chided, his voice gentle in KID's ear under the sounds of the snapping flames and KID's strangled gasps. "Nobody wants to see the same old tricks over and over." Slowly he began to twist the wire, tightening it, and KID's hands fell away. "If you really want to impress me, try coming back from the dead again–"

He cut off, jerking back slightly as KID suddenly reached up behind his head and sliced the wire with the ace he'd taken from the wall. The moment the pressure eased around his throat he staggered forward, and for a second he thought his knees might give way but he caught himself enough to direct his fall. He turned to throw his shoulder into Ito, catching him in the chest before he had time to recover from the unexpected escape.

Ito hit the wall, caught for a moment between it and KID before they both went crashing to the floor. In seconds KID had him pinned, ignoring the old man's cries of pain, and held a long, concentrated blast of sleep gas directly into Ito's face.

Once Ito was out and KID was sure of it, he crawled off of him and collapsed for a moment on the floor, coughing and gasping but hardly able to find clean air. It was a struggle to raise his head and he had to pull off his monocle to swipe the back of his glove across his watering eyes, blinking hard to clear his vision. The church was filling up with smoke and fire and he distantly wondered how or even _if_ Ito had planned to get out… Then realization struck hard and he wrenched himself up from the floor, carefully replacing the monocle over his eye. Ito couldn't possibly have put the chains on the outside of both doors and still be _in_ the church. So there had to be someone else involved outside.

KID crouched by Ito's side and quickly relieved him of the card gun before doing a quick search and removing his supply of wire and a knife, dumping those aside and leaving them there as he half dragged Ito over to the outside wall where the tall stained glass windows flashed with firelight. He pulled out the grappling hook attachment for his gun and shot it out, shattering the glass.

The short climb up the wall was agonizing. He had hoisted Ito over his shoulder, balancing him there as he hauled them both up toward the window and into ever thickening layers of black smoke. Little lights were popping across his field of vision by the time he reached the window and he didn't have the time or the presence of mind to care about the jagged shards of glass as he smashed out a larger opening with the butt of the card gun and balanced himself in the narrow frame. Somewhere far off he could hear a dog barking and he hurried to readjust the grappling hook and carefully maneuver himself and his burden around to start the slow descent to the grass outside.

Or rather he would have _liked_ it to be a slow descent. He'd just barely begun the downward climb when a glint off to the side caught his eye and his options suddenly became drop or take a knife to the face. He let go of the cable.

KID hit the ground in a half-tumble, just barely managing to deposit Ito into the grass in such a way as would not break the man's neck, but a jolt of pain shot up KID's leg on impact with the ground. His own efforts to hurriedly regain his feet left him dizzy, whether from pain or lack of oxygen he could no longer tell, but he managed to stand straight and face the knife-thrower. It took him a few extra seconds to even out his breathing, and he was bleeding from the small cuts on his hands, arms, and legs, but he threw on a KID grin that probably looked particularly demented given his rough appearance and the dramatic lighting of the dark fire through the stained glass. Glaring through the dark, he recognized the person standing across from him as the old groundskeeper who had shown him around earlier that day. It was just insult to injury.

"All this just for me?" KID asked with a particularly sweet false gratitude as he disconnected the grappling hook attachment from his gun and reloaded it with a set of cards. "You guys already knew the jewel wasn't right, but you camped out here and waited for me to check for myself, is that it?"

The barking was closer now and KID could see the large silhouette of Kuma bounding up behind Inakura. He kept his expression neutral, watching carefully to see what the dog – and Inakura – would do, but Kuma just ran past her and stopped off to the side, midway between the two. He was growling fiercely, the fur along his spine raised, but it didn't seem like he knew what else to do.

KID kept still, trying to keep Kuma in sight while still watching Inakura, but when Kuma started barking again, a deep, booming sound that carried across the churchyard, Inakura pulled another knife and whipped it at the dog with an irritated sneer.

"Hey–" KID fired off a shot and the card collided with the knife, knocking it from the air with a ping and a clatter. Kuma let out a yelp and bolted off in the opposite direction, tail between his legs. KID let out an exasperated sigh. "And you seemed so nice," he said to Inakura, not having to fake his disappointment. And it was a little bit scary because it was true. She _had_ seemed nice. He hadn't been able to see through her act, and the priest had been damn good too. It wasn't an encouraging thought.

KID vanished suddenly in a cloud of white smoke and Inakura tensed, quickly turning to put her back to the wall of the church as she scanned the yard, edging gradually toward her partner even as she watched and listened for KID to reappear. She paused once she'd come up beside Ito and reached out a foot to try to nudge him awake.

The sleep gas bomb KID had planted on Ito exploded with exuberant force and the pink cloud caught the groundskeeper full in the face. She seemed to struggle for a few moments, then dropped into the grass beside her partner.

KID walked up to them, refusing to give in to the pain and limp but no longer bothering to hide the scowl on his face, and quickly set about disarming the groundskeeper before returning to the grappling hook attachment he'd left dangling against the wall of the church. With the flick of a switch, the hook closed itself, dropping from the window, and he quickly dismantled it, using the length of cable to tie Inakura and Ito together. Then he dragged the two of them off, away from the burning building.

In the distance, the scream of sirens filled the night.

.

By the time Shinichi arrived, gasping for breath through a tightness in his throat that had nothing to do with having sprinted the whole way to the church, the firefighters were already surrounding the building, long hoses drawn around to blast white water at the flames from all angles. Eyes raking over the building, he spotted heavy chains binding the doors shut and his heart jumped painfully in his chest. Unwelcome images of old newspaper clippings detailing a tragic death by fire upon a stage flitted to the front of his mind and he ran to the nearest firefighter to shout above the rush of water and flame, "Is there anyone inside?"

Before anyone could answer him there was a shout from nearby. "Hey, I said don't move!"

Faintly, Shinichi heard the smooth reply, "All right; I'm not." He ran around the corner of the burning church and saw the small group a little ways off. As he ran closer he could make out what looked like Ito and the groundskeeper, Inakura, unconscious in the grass where two police officers were working to untie the sturdy cable wrapped around them. A short distance away, Tsukuda and another officer had their guns out and trained on KID who was standing complacently with his hands half raised and a slight smirk on his face.

"Admittedly, this does look pretty bad," he was saying as Shinichi ran over to them. "But I'm telling you, those two on the ground? _They're_ the ones you want. Oh, hey Tantei-kun."

"What's going on?" Shinichi asked, consciously focusing on Tsukuda to keep himself from looking to KID for his answer.

"Who are you?" the other officer asked. His eyes flickered from KID to Shinichi and back again warily, but he held the gun steadily on KID.

"He's fine," Tsukuda said. "That's Kudou Shinichi-kun. He's with Division One in Tokyo."

There was another flicker of a glance that looked a bit skeptical, but then it was gone and the officer nodded slightly, accepting it. His full focus returned to KID.

"Tsukuda-keibu, what is going on?" Shinichi asked again.

"Father Miyake called in a fire at the church and we found this lunatic dragging Father Ito and Inakura-san off when we got here. We've got ambulances on the way for them but this guy doesn't want to cooperate."

Shinichi allowed himself a quiet sigh. "He never does," he said, and KID grinned, making the other officer's scowl deepen. "Look," he continued quickly. "This guy is the Kaitou KID. He's an international jewel thief. I've been chasing him for a while now, but he never hurts anyone. I'm sure Ito and Inakura are fine. I'd suggest a police car over an ambulance."

"What–?"

"Ito's the one who murdered Father Yoshimoto."

"Ah, thank you Tantei-kun. I've been trying to tell these fine officers just how dangerous the two of them are. _Now_ do you believe me?"

"That's ridiculous," Tsukuda said. "There's no way Father Ito murdered Father Yoshimoto. There's no motive."

"The murder was incidental. The motive was the jewel. Look, I can explain everything but for right now I think KID was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's more important that we bring Ito and Inakura in for questioning."

"You said this guy was an international jewel thief," the other officer said, still watching KID closely. "If anyone's getting arrested it's him, right?" He looked briefly to Tsukuda for confirmation and Tsukuda nodded.

"I'll hear you out, Kudou-kun. For now, all three of them are being taken into custody."

KID laughed out loud in genuine amusement. "Taken into custody?" he said, grinning at them. "You really _don't_ know who I am, do you?"

"Give it up already. We _will_ shoot if we have to. You're not going to get away, so just come in quietly."

"I have a better idea. I'm going to borrow the detective for a little while." He pointed a finger at Shinichi, hands still raised.

"Wait, what–?" Shinichi took a step back, knowing something was coming. A cloud of yellow smoke erupted around KID and the officers both visibly started then whipped around toward Shinichi when they heard KID speak again from right beside him, an arm slung lazily over Shinichi's shoulders.

"I'm interested in what he may have discovered regarding this jewel. We'll have a nice, neighborly chat about it and then you can have him back safe and sound and I'll just be on my way. That sounds fair, doesn't it?"

"KID–" Shinichi managed, but then a cloud of blue obscured his vision. There was a confusing, dizzying whirl of motion and distant cries from the officers, then Shinichi's feet found solid ground again and everything was silent. His hands seemed to be fisted in cloth of some kind but, wherever he was, it was nearly pitch black and he couldn't see as far as a foot in front of him.

"You can let go of me now, Tantei-kun." There was a hint of laughter in KID's quiet voice and Shinichi realized he was holding on to KID's suit jacket. He did not let go.

"Where are we?" he whispered, glancing around. His eyes were beginning to adjust and he could make out darker shadows that looked like trees around and above them.

"A little ways off the edge of the cemetery," KID answered. "I thought things would be easier if we took our leave for now. You can clear up the rest for them at the station in the morning."

Shinichi sighed. For a few moments, he considered going back, but he knew that would be difficult to explain.

"It would be really embarrassing for me if the detective I kidnapped off a crime scene got away so easily and went back."

Shinichi thought he could almost see the crooked smile and slight upward tilt of KID's eyebrows, the earnest look in his eyes… It was too dark to see any of that, but he could hear it all in KID's voice. "Okay," he agreed.

A grin flashed in the darkness and the next thing Shinichi knew he was standing on a sidewalk that would lead him back to the hotel with a note pinned to the front of his shirt. He plucked it off and read it under the yellow light of a streetlamp.

 _Meet you there~!_

Breathing out a sigh that might have been a laugh, he started on his way.

.

Kaito was just coming out of the bathroom, his hair wet and a towel draped around the back of his neck, when Shinichi came into the hotel room.

"Hey," Kaito said, and it was a bit of an effort to keep the roughness out of his voice, but he managed it.

"Hey," Shinichi replied. He shut the door and flipped the deadbolt in almost unconscious habit before turning back to Kaito.

It took him maybe three seconds to notice the marks on Kaito's neck, and the small cuts on his hands and arms, visible below the sleeves of his t-shirt. Kaito had hardly made it out of the bathroom doorway and Shinichi was already closing in on him, pulling the towel gently away and dropping it absently to the floor, taking in the damage in barely contained horror.

Sometimes, not often but every once in a while, Shinichi hated his ability to imagine the scenarios that brought about the crime scenes he often stumbled upon. This was definitely one of those rare times. He'd seen plenty of people strangled, could easily recognize the type of damage that kind of attack left, and could just as easily imagine now what must have happened to Kaito at the church.

"Kaito…" His hand came up and his fingers traced over the marks, incredibly light, but Kaito still tensed, just barely stopping himself from flinching back from the contact. Shinichi immediately pulled his hand away. "Sorry."

Kaito shook his head, the movement slight in a way that struck Shinichi as unnatural for him, and Shinichi took a step closer, letting his forehead fall against Kaito's shoulder.

"Shinichi…?" A hesitant hand came to rest on Shinichi's arm and in that moment all Shinichi wanted was to reassure Kaito. To make him feel safe. And in that moment he left logic out of it as he moved to gently press his lips to the side of Kaito's neck. He could feel Kaito relax against him, the tension of the thief's deep-set instinct to always be alert, cautious, ready to escape or defend in an instant all draining away with that touch, so Shinichi shifted closer, not even aware of his hands moving to hold Kaito's hips as he continued to lay soft kisses against his neck.

Kaito's mind had gone blank at that first careful kiss. Now, with Shinichi close against him, his breath warm on his skin, it was easy not to care about that. He wrapped his arms around him and let one hand slip up to thread through Shinichi's hair… and was completely unprepared for the shock of pain that shot up his injured leg when he shifted his weight wrong. It gave out on him and Kaito staggered with a surprised yelp, his back hitting the wall behind him. Shinichi stumbled as well when Kaito was suddenly no longer there to lean into, but he caught himself quickly with his hands out on the wall on either side of him. Instantly alert, he didn't miss the wince that flickered across Kaito's face or how he let the wall take some of his weight, favoring his right leg.

"Geez, Kaito, are you okay?" Shinichi asked hurriedly, but he didn't wait for an answer. He grabbed on to Kaito, supporting him as he pulled him over to the bed and sat him down on the mattress. Kaito's face was slightly flushed and Shinichi sat close beside him, reaching over to push his bangs back from his forehead. "Hey, did you get sick or something? You feel kind of warm."

Kaito laughed a little breathlessly. "It was just my leg," he said. "I'm warm 'cause you got me all worked up."

"Me?" Shinichi said, not getting it for a couple of seconds before realization dawned and he blushed three times darker than the light tint coloring Kaito's cheeks. "I-I was just trying to make you feel better," he stammered. "And what do you mean your leg? What happened?"

"I fell out a window."

The reply surprised a short laugh out of Shinichi, and Kaito gave him a flat look. "Sorry," he managed, laughter still in his voice. "That sounds graceful. What happened, Meikaitou-san? That's not like you."

His tone was still joking, but Kaito did not miss how it turned at the end, and the concern in Shinichi's eyes. He sighed and slid farther onto the bed to lie back, and Shinichi shifted around to sit up by the pillows beside him.

"It was a trap."

The words gripped into Shinichi with a feeling like ice all through his chest.

 _It's already over,_ he reminded himself. _He's safe._

"I think the Organization must have checked that gem years ago," Kaito continued. "And left a few of their retired members there just in case I came looking someday." He closed his eyes, trying not to remember the nice old groundskeeper he'd spent the day with, and the blank, emotionless look of the killer she'd turned out to be. It got a little easier when he felt Shinichi shift on the bed to lay down close beside him. When he leaned over and pressed a light kiss to Kaito's cheek, Kaito couldn't help but smile. He slipped his arm around to Shinichi's back and drew him in even closer, holding them together, and Shinichi closed his eyes. His head was resting against Kaito's chest and he could hear Kaito's heart beating steadily. He took comfort in the sound, and a small, contented smile settled on his face.

.

Shinichi groaned a quiet complaint, only just realizing he'd fallen asleep as his phone buzzed on the desk in the corner. He cracked open his eyes. The light behind the heavy curtains was a pale grey and he groaned again.

Kaito still had his arms wrapped tight around him and now seemed to be refusing to acknowledge that he was also awake as the phone paused in its vibrating before starting up again just a few minutes later.

"Kaito," Shinichi muttered. "Kaito, I know you're awake; I need to check my phone."

Kaito ignored him and Shinichi rolled his eyes, pushing him away though more carefully than he might have, still unsure of just how injured the thief might be.

By the time he made it to the table in the corner, shivering at the loss of shared body heat, there were three missed calls on his phone. All of them were from Megure. Even as he stared down at it in confusion, the phone started to ring again and he answered and brought it to his ear.

"This is Kudou Shinichi," he said.

"Kudou-kun!" Megure exclaimed. "Are you all right? Where are you?"

"Um, yeah, of course I'm – oh. Right. I guess I sort of… disappeared. Did Tsukuda-keibu call you?"

"She did," Megure said, sounding much calmer now. "She said you'd been kidnapped by Kaitou KID. So, care to tell me what the hell happened?"

"Er, yeah, sorry about that. He did sort of… kidnap me I guess. He wanted to know about the cold case, because of the jewel. He must have knocked me out after that and put me back in my hotel room. Didn't even wake Kaito." He threw a glance over his shoulder at the bed and saw Kaito smirking in his fake sleep. Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Anyway," he said into the phone. "I should probably head over to the station and clear all this up for them."

"…Did you solve the case?" Megure asked.

"Yeah," he answered. "I'll fill you in on the details when I get back to Tokyo."

There was something of a grumble from the bed and Shinichi covered the phone and muttered, "Deal with it," but he moved to sit on the edge of the mattress and drew his fingers slowly through Kaito's hair. "I'll see you soon, Inspector." He hung up and tossed the phone onto the bed, then got up to grab a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door.

Kaito heard the shower running and sighed. _Of course he's going to head out right away,_ he thought, but he smiled a little, knowing that he could complain all he wanted, but Shinichi's sense of duty would still be a turn-on. "Are you gonna sit in on the interrogations again?" he called from the bed, ignoring the roughness that had crept back into his voice.

"Of course," Shinichi called back.

"How exactly do you get away with that and still say Megure-keibu can't know why you shouldn't use your name?" he said on a sigh.

Shinichi didn't answer for a few minutes, but when the water turned off he explained from the bathroom, "He knows I'm investigating the Organization, he just doesn't know I've been specifically targeted by them before, or that I'm doing anything on my own. He thinks I'm only investigating within safe parameters, like police interrogations and cold cases. If they knew the whole story–"

"Yeah, yeah, freeze you out, I get it," Kaito said, closing his eyes.

"Good, then you can stop making a nuisance of yourself."

"I seriously doubt it." He grinned, stretching out on the bed and folding his hands behind his head, trying to ignore how stiff and sore his leg felt. "I like being a nuisance."

Shinichi came back into the room a few minutes later and Kaito took a moment to appreciate how put-together Shinichi always looked, even when living out of a duffle bag. He watched him as he went to the desk to collect the pictures he'd left spread out there, folding them back into the case file and picking it up to walk with purpose over to the side of the bed. Kaito was about to ask what he was doing but before he could Shinichi had dropped the folder onto the small nightstand. Then his knee was up on the mattress and he was leaning over Kaito, holding his shoulders against the pillows as he kissed him.

Kaito drew in a startled breath, taking in hot, minty air from Shinichi's mouth and Shinichi pulled back for just a moment to let him collect himself, but then he was on him again and Kaito's hands were on the sides of Shinichi's face, fingertips in his hair.

Shinichi finally eased back again, still leaning close over Kaito, and stared down into blue eyes wide with surprise. "You _are_ okay, right?" he asked and Kaito nodded.

"Y-Yeah," he managed.

"Maybe take it easy today?" Shinichi suggested anyway. "I'll probably be back late."

"So I'm just supposed to sit here all day?" Kaito pouted. "That's boring."

"Deal with it," he said again with a smirk, though he silently hoped the hotel room would still be more or less in one piece when he returned. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "How's your leg."

"Still hurts," Kaito sighed.

"…Do you think you should have it looked at? It's not broken is it?"

Kaito gave him a disbelieving, skeptical sort of look.

"Hey, I wouldn't put it past you to walk around on a broken leg and play it off as nothing," Shinichi countered.

"It's not broken," Kaito answered, pushing himself up to sit back against the headboard. "Anyway, you owe me an explanation on what happened with this murder case."

"Tell me what happened at the church first," Shinichi said. His eyes caught on the cell phone on the bed and he grabbed it and shoved it into his pocket before he could forget.

Kaito shook his head. "Ito showed up while I was checking the jewel. I let him get too close. That guy is seriously unhinged – I couldn't read him at all. And then it turned out Inakura was working with him. She chained the doors and Ito set the place on fire. Inakura's also the reason I had to fall out a window while I was trying to carry Ito out of there," he added irritably. "So does that add up with your deductions, Tantei-kun?"

"Yeah," Shinichi said. "I already knew it was Ito, but I thought there might have been someone with him. I guess that was probably Inakura."

"And they're definitely Organization?"

Shinichi nodded. "Because of the mirror. No one else would have needed it. They had to be checking for Pandora – it's the only thing that fits. And trying to murder you kinda points toward that too," he added, giving Kaito a sympathetic look.

"True. And Ito knew that the first KID is dead. That's not common knowledge," he sighed. "What are you gonna tell the police about it? The mirror I mean."

Shinichi folded his arms and considered the question quietly for a few moments. "...How much are you comfortable with me saying?" Confusion flickered across Kaito's face. "My case will be weaker if I can't explain the mirror," Shinichi said. "But now that I know what I'm looking for, it might not matter. It's up to you."

"Hm." Kaito shrugged. "It's not like my checking the jewels is any secret. It was something you'd figured out even before I told you about Pandora after all. And KID is linked to the Organization too. I'm sure that Hakuba bastard at least has made those connections. It might be more suspicious not to give that as a theory."

Shinichi nodded. "Okay. I'll let you know how it goes." He started to stand but Kaito grabbed on to his shirt and tugged him back down.

"Hang on," he said, meeting Shinichi's eyes. "What was with that kiss?"

A blush overtook Shinichi's face and he looked away. "Is it really that weird?" he muttered. "Why do you have to go and point it out?"

"Because," Kaito laughed. "If I can figure out what prompted it maybe I can get you to do it more often." He grinned and Shinichi's face went a shade darker, but Kaito also noted that he looked a little relieved. "Hey." His hand went to Shinichi's cheek, drawing him gently over for a light kiss. "Go wrap up your case. I'll be good."

Shinichi laughed and stood, picking up the folder from the nightstand and heading for the door. "Like I'll believe that for even a second," he said, smiling over his shoulder at Kaito. "See you later."

When he was gone Kaito sank back down against the pillows with a quiet sigh. "Geez, Shinichi," he breathed out. "You're so smart; how do you really have no idea what you can do to me…"

.

After hearing Shinichi's explanation of the events from two years ago, Tsukuda had become much more receptive to Megure's request that she allow Shinichi to sit in on Ito's questioning. She led him to the small holding cell where another officer Shinichi thought he vaguely recognized was waiting for them. His gaze caught on the man just a little longer than normal, taking note of a faint burn scar on the man's ear and along his jaw line, and another along the edge of his hand that disappeared into his sleeve. Tsukuda didn't fail to notice.

"Nogimura-san is with the MPD," she said. "He came into town early this morning. After you went missing."

"Oh," Shinichi said, his hand moving to the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry to trouble you."

"It's no trouble, Kudou-san," Nogimura replied. "We're just glad you're all right."

Shinichi nodded and he and Tsukuda entered the cell, Nogimura closing it off behind them.

Ito was sitting on the edge of the small bed. He blinked up at them when they came in and did not get up.

"We're here about the murder of Yoshimoto Ikeda-san," Tsukuda said, her voice a very specific kind of emotionless that Shinichi had not heard from her before.

"Who's that now?" Ito said.

Her eye twitched and Shinichi answered for her. "The priest you murdered two years ago when he found you and Inakura in the church checking the gem on the tabernacle," he said, his arms crossed firmly. He was in no mood for games with this man – this murderer who had tried to strangle and burn Kaito to death barely ten hours ago.

"Oh, yes, what about it?" Ito asked, a vague sort of smile on his face.

"You admit you killed Father Yoshimoto?" Tsukuda ventured, just a little hesitant. Shinichi stayed silent. He could see now what Kaito had meant when he said the man was unhinged.

"I don't see why not, at this point." Off-hand. Almost… _innocently._ Shinichi's eyes narrowed, taking on the sharp heat he didn't normally feel when facing a criminal who was already behind bars.

"And what about what you did to KID?" he asked, unable – or unwilling – to stop himself. It was a black curiosity, he knew, but he wanted to understand the motivation. Or maybe he wanted there to _be_ motivation. Something he could wrap his mind around so he wouldn't have to be faced with someone who killed other people on a passing whim.

"Kaitou KID…" Ito said, eyes now distant. "Back from the dead." He looked up at Shinichi. "Of course I wanted to kill him," he answered, as if that were more than explanation enough.

Shinichi's eyes remained hard. "He saved your life."

A blank stare.

"How do you think you got out of that church?" he tried. "He could have left you to burn. Like you would have left him." He waited to see if that was a concept that even _could_ sink in. It didn't look like it. "But he saved you," he finished, resigned. He knew by now that it wouldn't mean a thing.

Tsukuda was watching Shinichi warily, but her eyes snapped back to Ito in an alertness that had hard-restrained alarm at its base when Ito started laughing.

"Kaitou KID saved me?" he said. "Really? Watch this." He stood and shambled right up to Shinichi, and Tsukuda moved like she wanted to stop him. Out of the corner of his eye, Shinichi saw Nogimura shift outside the cell as well, but the old man was bent and shaky and slow on his feet and Shinichi didn't quite have it in him to feel threatened. Still, he watched him keenly, his arms still crossed but ready at any moment to go for the anesthetic watch. Anyone who could get the better of KID was certainly not harmless, after all.

Ito leaned in, tuning away from Tsukuda slightly, and whispered, "Certain people have forgotten all about you, _Kudou Shinichi-san_. But a lot of them haven't. If you don't keep your head down, you might give them cause to _remind_ those certain others, and then you better hope you can come back from the dead again too." He drew back, smile bright and tremulous. "But I don't think you have a chance," he said out loud. "You keep your name out of the media, but it's the police you need to watch."

"What does _that_ mean?" Tsukuda said but Ito just chuckled and slowly wandered back to sit on the bed again.

"…Why would you tell me that?" Shinichi asked, some of the hard edges fading from his features as he considered Ito's words.

Ito looked somewhat mystified for a short time before answering, "As you say… It's incidental. I just won't be saved by a dead man."

Shinichi's eyebrows pulled down as he tried to make sense of the comment, still mulling it over as Tsukuda took over the interrogation, but they didn't get anything sensible out of the man after that and they left the cell shortly after.

Inakura was even less helpful. She resolutely said nothing, actively ignoring their presence entirely until they finally gave up and called it a day.

.

It wasn't until the next day, when Shinichi and Kaito were already back in Tokyo, that they heard of Ito's death. There was no sign of foul play. The autopsy revealed nothing strange. The man was old.

And yet all Shinichi could think about was that last statement he hadn't understood.

"I just won't be saved by a dead man."

In the end, it seemed he hadn't been.


	19. Chapter 19

**Case 19 – Scrabble**

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"Arrogant thief."

"Nosy detective."

"Public nuisance."

"Snobby critic."

"Lunatic in a top hat." A smile broke through. He couldn't help it.

"Bratty kid~"

"Hey–" And there was that damned grin.

"Sorry, not sorry."

"Jerk."

"Oh come on; that's not very creative."

"Purveyor of nonsense," Shinichi tossed out, his hand moving lazily through the air in a dismissive gesture.

"I would love to play Scrabble with you."

When Shinichi looked over, Kaito was sitting the wrong way up on the couch, the razor-edged, predatory grin no less disturbing for being upside down. Shinichi let a haughty smirk turn his own lips up.

"You do _not_ want to play Scrabble with me."

"Why not?"

"I would kick your ass. It would be humiliating. I don't want to see you in tears." And he was smirking through every word, laughter there in his eyes.

"Oh really? Now _that_ I have to see."

"We are _not_ playing Scrabble."

"No, see, I really think we are. Ooh, we should play in French, just to keep things interesting."

"Kaito, you're practically fluent in French. That's not fair."

"Practically?" Kaito complained in an affected voice. He flipped, the motion fluid, and somehow came to his feet facing the couch. "Fine then, you pick the language."

"Oh my god you're serious."

"Of course I am! Come on, I wanna play!"

"All right. What do I get when I win?"

"Hmm?" Kaito stepped over to Shinichi and leaned in. "I never would have taken you for a gambler Shinichi. Not this kind, at least. But if we're playing for stakes…"

.

"All right, I don't know _how_ you're doing this, but this has got you be you, Kaito."

Kaito blinked innocently at him over the English Scrabble board they had unearthed from a pile of Yusaku's things. "What's me?" he said.

Shinichi turned his letter tray around, revealing a mess of ugly consonants and Kaito flashed him a KID grin.

"Well that is just unfortunate, Tantei-kun."

"That's it; I am never playing this with you again."

"Aw, don't be like that. You were doing really well!"

And it was true. Shinichi had been holding his own, coming up with what were, in Kaito's opinion, simply ridiculous words that no one would actually use conversationally and that he'd had to look up to check if they were real. It had been a learning experience, and not just in English vocabulary. Throughout the game, Kaito learned that Shinichi, who could articulate his thoughts effectively enough in English if he had to, had actually had far more practice _reading_ the language. Kaito however, who could flawlessly mimic a native English speaker should he ever be so inclined, found he actually had a much more limited vocabulary than Shinichi.

He also learned something about himself.

Kaito propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his palm, settling in to watch Shinichi frown in concentration at the board. "You wanna give up?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course not." He was positively _glaring_ at the tiles now and Kaito leaned back with a smirk, sharp eyes locked on Shinichi. It was adorable to watch him puzzle things out, but it was the moment when it all clicked together that Kaito loved most. His face would go momentarily blank and Kaito could practically hear him think, _It's so obvious; why didn't I see it before?_ Then he would smirk, the expression downright wicked with smug satisfaction, and do something obnoxiously, overwhelmingly, _fantastically_ intelligent, and Kaito would just about lose it and have to lock himself down behind his poker face to keep from saying or doing something that would probably just embarrass them both.

He needed a distraction, so he plucked a few of the letters from his own tray and set them tripping back and forth across his knuckles. "Sooo… about those stakes…"

"Too late. You can't set stakes in the middle of a game," Shinichi stated without even looking up. He finally set down a few tiles and turned the board toward Kaito.

"You know, setting stakes in the middle is the whole point of some games," Kaito argued as he studied the board.

"We aren't playing poker," Shinichi pointed out, then very quickly added, "And we're not going to."

Kaito shrugged. "I'm just saying there's precedent."

He was quiet for a while, considering his letters, and Shinichi watched him for a long time before he hesitantly asked, "What did you have in mind?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them, but Kaito only tilted his head to the side, making a show of thinking it over before saying, "How about the loser has to tell the winner something he's never told him before?"

Shinichi relaxed a little. "That doesn't sound so bad. Anything?" he asked.

"Sure."

"…All right."

Kaito gave him a bright smile. Then he took all seven of his letter tiles and set them out on the board. "Don't forget my bonus," he said cheerfully as Shinichi's forehead dropped into his palm.

.

It had been close, but Shinichi was looking particularly smug as he added up the final score and held up the notepad to show Kaito. "Looks like you lose," he said, arrogant smirk and all.

Kaito leaned back in his chair, hands folded behind his head, and let out a low whistle. "Damn, I knew I shouldn't have given you all those high-scoring letters."

Shinichi leaned back as well and crossed his arms. "Okay, I won. Time to pay up."

"Well, actually I cheated, so the game's invalid," Kaito said, holding back his laughter to see if Shinichi would rise to the bait.

"What? No, that is not how this works," he said firmly. "Now come on, give. It was your idea in the first place so you must have had _something_ in mind that made you choose those stakes."

Kaito blushed faintly, looking very much like he'd been caught red-handed. He laughed a little to cover it. "I always forget that figuring out motives is a big part of what you do." His face softened with a smile then and he said with a careless shrug, "Okay, I guess if you insist."

Shinichi watched him carefully, fully suspicious as Kaito got up and walked around the table. He leaned in close, one hand reaching around Shinichi to grab the back of his chair, and his lips brushed against Shinichi's ear as he whispered to him. When he pulled away Shinichi's face was bright red.

"Just something to think about," Kaito said with a cheery smile. He ducked down again for just a second to touch a quick kiss to Shinichi's temple.

Shinichi still felt a little stunned, but he managed to turn in his seat to watch Kaito as he headed out of the library. "See you tomorrow~!" he called back as he left.

Shinichi slumped a little as he turned back around, taking a slow breath to help along his receding blush, but any ground he'd gained on that front was quickly lost when his eyes moved down to the game board where the magician had left one more message – one more thing he'd never told him before.

I

L O V E

Y O U


	20. Chapter 20

**Case 20 – Mocha**

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Kaito snuck into the room with all the long-practiced silence and stealth of the phantom thief that he was. His target was sleeping soundly and he crouched, readying himself to spring. Then he launched forward, throwing himself onto the bed with a distinct and deliberate lack of grace and bouncing Shinichi awake.

"Good morning, Shinichi~!" he said brightly, drowning out Shinichi's pillow-muffled groan as he turned away from him. Kaito gave him a sideways glance, eyeing the thin, loose-fitting white t-shirt he was sleeping in that was pulled away from his neck slightly on one side, and moved in immediately, settling himself flush against Shinichi's back.

Shinichi felt the warm weight on him, pressing him into the mattress, but it was a comfortable pressure, reassuring without being smothering. He made a small, content noise of acknowledgement.

"Hmmm?" Kaito hummed and Shinichi could feel the sound in Kaito's chest against his back. "Are you awake~?" Shinichi didn't answer, so Kaito shifted a little and Shinichi felt soft kisses down the back of his neck and along his shoulders.

"This is not a good plan to get me out of bed," he murmured, not really caring because he was comfortable and warm and Kaito was kissing him. But then Kaito's arms slipped under him, wrapping around his chest and lifting him insistently off of the pillows until he was sitting up.

"There. Is that better?" Kaito asked, laughing a little as Shinichi uttered a wordless complaint. "I got coffee~" he added, and that was enough to get Shinichi's feet on the floor, but he was still moving sluggishly. "It's in the kitchen," Kaito laughed. "You should probably make that first priority. I forgot my homework in the library yesterday. I'm gonna go grab it."

If Shinichi had been more awake, he would have reasoned that Kaito had more probably not _forgotten_ his homework so much as left it behind to have an excuse to wake Shinichi up at some unholy hour before taking off for his morning classes and then leaving for Ekoda for two days.

Heading downstairs, Shinichi found the two foam cups and a newspaper waiting on the table in the kitchen. He picked up the paper, not paying attention as he sat down and grabbed a cup, taking a sip. The liquid that hit his tongue was rich, thick and creamy and warm and Shinichi almost choked on the sweetness. He pulled the cup away and looked down at it, alarmed, before shaking his head and exchanging it for the other. He took a tentative sip, inhaling the fragrance this time to be sure, and the coffee hit his tongue, thin as water in comparison, bitter and powerful and hot and it cleared his mind, waking him up and relaxing him at the same time. He settled back into his chair with a sigh and put the newspaper down so he could hold the cup close with both hands for a few moments, his eyes slipping closed. When he opened them again, Kaito was sitting across from him, grinning.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you two want some alone time?" he said, taking a long drink from the other foam cup.

"Shut up," Shinichi said, a smile pulling stubbornly at the corners of his mouth. He turned his attention back to the paper on the table, ignoring the way Kaito was watching him, all too familiar with the hint of mischief in his eyes. Then Kaito stood abruptly and walked around the table to where Shinichi was sitting. Shinichi looked up immediately, suspicious, and blushed as Kaito leaned over him much like he had the previous day. But this time one hand came up, light under Shinichi's chin, and Kaito just proceeded to calmly kiss him senseless.

Shinichi could taste the creamy chocolate still on Kaito's lips, on his tongue, and it blended with the bitter taste still in his own mouth. He reached up and sank his fingers into Kaito's hair, letting slip a soft moan, and he felt Kaito's lips turn up against his own in a satisfied smile. He pulled back slightly, pressing a few quick, light kisses against Shinichi's lips before straightening up and taking a step back, somehow slipping right out of Shinichi's grasp. Shinichi glared up at him, knowing full well he was being teased. Kaito only smirked back and licked his lips before giving him a wink and throwing his hand up in a casual wave as he turned to head out of the kitchen. "Miss me, okay?" he called back, grinning over his shoulder at him. Then he was gone.

Shinichi's fingers came up to cover his lips lightly as his tongue slipped out, sweeping over the faint taste of chocolate lingering there.

"Tch, damn thief," he muttered, fighting down his blush. "Like I could do anything else."


	21. Chapter 21

This chapter contains somewhat school-related murder/violence. If you prefer not to read that portion, you can use Ctrl+f to skip ahead to "They stayed" (do not include the quotation marks) and that will take you past it.

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Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions, and always let me know if you ever feel additional warnings should be included in any of my works.

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 **Case 21 – The Karate Competition Murder**

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Kaito didn't usually need to see police cars surrounding a building to know something was wrong, but he supposed there was something to be said for the certainty it gave. And he supposed this because it kept him from worrying too much over the fact that Shinichi was inside that surrounded building. Shinichi and Sonoko had gone to watch Ran compete at a karate tournament with Kaito coming to meet them there since he hadn't been able to make it back to Beika in time for the start of the first match. He had spent the night in Ekoda at his mother's house after picking her up at the airport the day before, and Shinichi had stayed behind so as not to miss school (he'd certainly done enough of that during high school after all, so it had become an impossible feat to convince him to skip classes for anything short of murder). It was a collection of small things that had added up to this – Shinichi in the middle of some trouble and Kaito stuck on the perimeter, wondering what had happened.

He watched, searching for a good way inside as officers stopped people walking by while others guarded each entrance to the arena. It only took him one stealthy circuit around the building to decide on his path. Then he slipped inside with practiced ease and blended into the nervous milling crowd of competitors and spectators that he found there.

He spotted Ran and Sonoko a few minutes later and his heart dropped. Ran was hunched against Sonoko's shoulder, small sobs shaking her body, and Sonoko kept her arms around her in firm support though tears were spilling from her eyes as well. Kaito pushed through the crowd to get to them.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" he asked. _Is Shinichi okay?_

"Kaito-kun…" Ran managed, lifting her head from Sonoko's shoulder.

"We're okay," Sonoko supplied, rubbing at her cheeks with one hand. The other kept hold of Ran.

"What's going on?"

"Matsutani-kun's been murdered," Ran said, forcing her tears back though her voice still shook.

Kaito's face drew closed – blank, hiding his emotions out of instinct. He didn't know Matsutani personally, but he knew enough to put a face to the name, and he knew he'd been in Ran's, Sonoko's, and Shinichi's class in high school. He threw a quick glance around the huge space and easily spotted the one area the police were blocking off that was not an exit – most likely where the murder had taken place, where the victim still was, and where Shinichi was sure to be.

"We're okay," Sonoko repeated purposefully, watching him.

Kaito glanced back at her with a grateful look and gave a quick nod before disappearing into the crowd again. He slipped unseen past the officers blocking the hallway that led back to the locker rooms and ran silently for the open door near the end of the hall. Sure enough, Shinichi was there, crouched down beside a thin boy lying beside the lockers in a half-assembled karate uniform.

Kaito stopped in the doorway. Shinichi was looking over the body with intense focus though he kept a careful distance so as not to disturb the scene, but it only took him a handful of seconds to register the feeling of someone watching him. He glanced over his shoulder and started slightly when he saw someone standing there.

"Kaito…" He stood but did not step away from the body.

"Are you okay?"

"You shouldn't be in here." His voice was calm. Controlled, Kaito decided. There was none of the fond exasperation that often snuck into his tone when Kaito started bending rules, but there was no anger either. He was just stating a fact. But he did not meet Kaito's eyes. "Megure-keibu and the forensics team are on their way," he added when Kaito didn't move.

Kaito gave a casual shrug, glossing over the slight unease that was taking up residence in the pit of his stomach. "I was never here," he said, the words light without being joking. When Shinichi glanced up again Kaito was gone, having hidden himself well and thoroughly nearby, determined beyond conscious reason to keep an eye on Shinichi. Something… wasn't quite right.

For a few extra moments after Kaito had gone, Shinichi just stood, looking at nothing – at the empty doorway, at the hallway beyond – before turning back to the body on the floor. He paced a slow circle of the scene, stepping carefully, and paused beside one particular locker, leaning closer with his hands in his pockets to inspect a streak of blood that was about the right height to match the cut on Matsutani's forehead. His fists flexed in his pockets as he saw it play out in his mind – a shadowy figure standing in for the murderer, Matsutani's head being slammed into the metal, leaving him dazed and unable to defend himself as the killer strangled him, holding on until Matsutani's weak, unfocused struggles stopped. Holding on until Matsutani stopped breathing. Until Matsutani's heart stopped beating. Until Matsutani would never wake up again.

Shinichi's body was strung tight with resistance to the urge to hit something. He backed away from the scene and leaned against the doorjamb of the locker room, his eyes closed and his arms crossed, quiet and still. He stayed that way, just thinking through the facts, until Megure and the forensics team arrived.

Shinichi greeted them, his voice casual as he filled them in on what he knew so far, and securing a pair of gloves for himself while photos were taken of the scene. After a more thorough examination was done, they loaded the body onto a gurney and took it away through a back exit, and Shinichi and Megure headed out into the gym.

Kaito followed, silent and unnoticed, and blended himself seamlessly back into the crowd, positioning himself strategically to avoid people he knew so that he could keep his full attention on Shinichi. Megure called everyone to attention and the murmurs became hushed as he asked for everyone's cooperation. Then Shinichi moved from the inspector's side and into the crowd, picking through the people methodically and speaking with a few before calling just four of them over, away from the rest. He lined them up by the wall and he and Megure stood in front of them in a tactic Kaito was certain was meant to make them nervous as Shinichi started talking through the situation. Kaito edged closer and came within earshot just in time to hear Shinichi name the killer.

"Itagaki-kun's your guy, Inspector," he said, his voice tight but subdued. Three of the people by the wall turned in unison to look at the young man in question whose face was slowly turning red.

"What the hell are you saying, Kudou?" he demanded. "You accusing me of something?"

"You murdered Matsutani-kun," Shinichi said.

"Th-That's ridiculous!" Itagaki shouted back. He seemed unaware of the tears forming in his eyes.

"You have a motive," Shinichi replied. "Your alibi's shaky at best and we found the gloves–"

"Shut up!"

Itagaki lunged forward but the woman standing beside him at the wall reached out reflexively to stop him. She only had a hold on him for a second before he tore out of her grasp, but it was more than enough time for Shinichi and Megure to brace themselves. When he surged forward, they grabbed his arms and forced him to the floor on his stomach. Megure locked a pair of handcuffs onto his wrists and he and Shinichi dragged Itagaki back onto his feet.

Kaito did not move at all during the small struggle. He knew Itagaki, shaken and unarmed as he was, wouldn't have been able to harm anyone with so many trained officers around. He kept his eyes locked on Shinichi instead, his gaze sharp and analytical. Shinichi was so calm through the entire thing it was almost eerie. Kaito had seen Shinichi face armed gunmen and snipers without flinching – hell, on occasion Kaito himself had been on the other end of the gun Shinichi was staring down – but this was different. This felt _wrong._

Shinichi didn't say anything and didn't follow as Megure directed Itagaki forward with a hand on his back, a few of the other officers falling into step with them as he led Itagaki out of the building. The gym was practically echoing with the low murmurs of the people left behind, but no one seemed to want to move, not even the three still standing by the wall, and Shinichi least of all. Then Ran broke free of the shaken crowd and went up to Shinichi, placing a comforting hand on his arm.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice still thick with tears.

"Yeah, of course I am."

The lie, Kaito noted, was fluid. Natural, like he'd become very used to telling that exact lie to that exact person.

"But… But it was Itagaki-kun," Ran said softly, her voice wavering just a little.

"Sorry, Ran," Shinichi said, pulling his arm free of her grasp. "I need to wrap some things up with the forensics team." He turned from her before she could get another word out and retreated back down the hallway toward the locker room where no one was allowed to follow. Ran was left standing alone apart from the crowd as fresh tears spilled onto her cheeks.

For a moment, Kaito was torn between going after Shinichi and trying to help Ran, who he felt had been rather unfairly abandoned, but before he could make a decision Sonoko was there, holding Ran's shoulders and leading her over to the bleachers to sit down. He hesitated just a moment more but he knew Ran was in good hands so he vanished again, sneaking back down the hallway to where Shinichi was speaking with a police officer. Just a few minutes later, Shinichi left out the back exit that was opened for him and closed behind him by another officer who was rather resolutely standing her ground in front of it. Kaito sighed quietly and doubled back to leave through a more easily accessible exit.

He found Shinichi walking down a sidewalk away from the arena and ran to catch up, coming up beside him. "Hey…"

"Hey," Shinichi said. "Sorry about earlier."

Kaito's head tilted slightly. "Sorry about what?"

Shinichi shook his head. "Never mind."

"Hey–" Kaito stepped a little quicker to get in front of Shinichi and stopped him with a hand on his chest. "You've got a hell of a poker face when you want to, you know that?" he said in a low voice.

A quick blink was the only outward reaction he received. "I don't want to talk about this here," he said, his voice still level, still exuding that forced, worked-at calm that put Kaito on edge. "I just want to go home."

"…Okay," Kaito conceded. He fell back into step beside him and walked with him in silence back to the Kudou manor. Shinichi opened the door and let Kaito in ahead of him before following him in and shutting it firmly. He turned but couldn't seem to manage much more than that, so he pressed his back to the solid wood and slid down it slowly, his legs folding up in front of him as he reached the floor. Kaito was suddenly there, kneeling in front of him with his hands on Shinichi's knees, watching him with fear-wide eyes.

"Shinichi…?"

Shinichi drew in a slow, shuddering breath. It was the only answer he could manage.

"Come on." The words were gentle, but the pull on his wrists was insistent, and somehow he was being guided toward the couch in the next room where the bright sunlight outside was turned dusty by the edges of the heavy curtains drawn closed in front of the windows.

Kaito pulled Shinichi down with him onto the couch, tucking him to his side, his arms a still and steady pressure around him. "…You knew them both, didn't you," he said quietly.

Shinichi closed his eyes and was quiet for a while, trying to determine if this was something he felt he could talk about. "Matsutani-kun sat right in front of me at school," he eventually said. The words were hesitant, but his voice was steady so he went on. "He'd been in my class since grade school. And Itagaki-kun… He was on the soccer team. We got along really well."

He felt Kaito's hold on him tighten and thought it would be just for a moment, but he didn't ease up and Shinichi didn't mind.

"You should really let the police take some of these cases now and then," he said, and it was almost a whisper. Almost to himself.

Shinichi shook his head. "I wanted to do it – for Matsutani-kun. But I didn't think–" He cut himself off with a shuddering exhale that he didn't expect. Like he couldn't bear the air in his lungs and had to get it out.

"You know," Kaito said softly. "It's okay to feel it. Someone died. I don't care how often it happens; it changes everything, every time."

"I know."

"This is going to sound kind of messed up, but I'm really glad you know." He turned his face and muttered against the side of Shinichi's head, "You were scaring the hell out of me back there. I could tell there was _something_ wrong but… you were acting like you didn't care. Like everything was fine. I mean geez, is this how you feel when I'm KID?"

Shinichi laughed and Kaito felt some knot of tension he hadn't realized was there ease loose in his chest. He pressed a kiss into Shinichi's hair.

"No, I don't think it's quite the same," Shinichi said, and they both knew he was jumping on the subject change for a moment of escape. Of relief. "I don't know if it's because I knew your poker face before I knew _you_ or if it's because I've seen it so often… Maybe it's that I know it's necessary, but for whatever reason it doesn't bother me. When it's important I can see through it. Like you saw through mine today." He said this with a steady confidence that was so _Shinichi_ that Kaito couldn't help but smile.

"…Besides," he added, and he suddenly sounded uncertain again, the contrast staggering. Like he wasn't sure if he really wanted to say what he was about to say, but that first word was enough that he couldn't stop. "Besides," he said again, picking up momentum. "I've seen real emotion on your face – in your eyes – that was so much more terrifying. Just… raw hate and fear so intense it _hurt_ and I just… _That's_ what scares me."

Kaito's hand found Shinichi's and closed around it. He almost spoke but he caught himself – stopped himself because he knew he couldn't do it without going back behind his mask and Shinichi deserved better than that. Instead, he placed another kiss on the top of Shinichi's head and held onto him, the firm pressure of his fingers, just a little too tight, acting as the apology he couldn't bring himself to voice.

They stayed there in silence for a long while, just holding on to each other and taking comfort in that as they worked through their own thoughts until Kaito finally suggested they stay in and make something for dinner together. As he headed for the kitchen, Shinichi following slowly after, he added over his shoulder, "And I'm staying the night, by the way. Just so you know."

Shinichi smiled just a little and headed after Kaito into the kitchen. "I'm surprised you bothered to mention it," he said, leaning against the doorway to watch as Kaito moved through the room, leaving every single cabinet open in his wake.

"Well, I didn't want to startle you since I don't plan on crashing on the couch this time."

Shinichi blinked mutely at the off-hand comment, not quite sure what to make of it. They'd shared a bed twice before and it was never really a big deal, but both times it had been Shinichi's idea, and Kaito had been injured. Kaito seemed to have strange rules about when to respect people's space that Shinichi wasn't sure he understood, but _not_ sneaking into bed with Shinichi seemed to be one of them.

Kaito just kept talking. "So what should we make?" he said, moving to the middle of the kitchen to survey his work. "…We might have to hit a grocery store."

"What do you want to make?" Shinichi asked, brushing off the earlier comment. Kaito would do as he liked regardless – no sense worrying about it now. He went to the kitchen table and sat down.

Kaito moved back over to the counter and leaned against it, his arms loosely crossed. One hand moved thoughtfully up to his chin. "Well… Actually I've never been all that good at cooking. About the only thing I _can_ make is lemon pie, but I guess that's not really _dinner_ per se–" He cut off, slightly startled when Shinichi, unable to stop himself, started laughing – slow at first but then folding with it, his forehead resting on his arm on the tabletop. "…I missed something," Kaito said.

Shinichi shook his head and it looked like an effort but he gathered himself up and sat back in the chair again. "No, sorry, I just… I just really like lemon pie," he said, his voice breaking slightly with the clinging remnants of laughter, his eyes wet.

Kaito rolled his eyes fondly. "Why am I not surprised."

"And you know what else?" Shinichi added, still leaning with one elbow on the table. "I'm actually really good with chocolate. I've never tried to make any kind of chocolate pie before, but I bet I could."

Kaito grinned. "That's it; we're having pie for dinner."

"What? Kaito, we are not having–" He cut off with a yelp as Kaito, somehow behind his chair now, lifted him out of it and started pushing him toward the door.

"Yes we are. Pie for dinner. It's therapeutic. Now let's go; you have _nothing_ to cook with around here. Pies don't make themselves you know," he said wisely and Shinichi was laughing again as he allowed himself to be herded out of the house and down the street to a grocery store.

.

Midnight found the two sitting in the kitchen, two partially eaten pies on the table between them and an unholy mess on every counter in the room. Kaito had produced a deck of cards and was doing card tricks as Shinichi watched intently, trying to figure them out. It was warm and peaceful and Kaito's hands flew through the motions of each trick fast enough that Shinichi didn't have time to feel guilty about feeling as good as he did after everything that had happened. And somehow, everything was okay.

When they finally did clean up and move upstairs to Shinichi's bed, Kaito pulled him close, his arms firm around him, and Shinichi relaxed into the warmth. He felt safe, more so than he had in a long, long time, and all his fears, his insecurities and worries, were pushed so far out of mind that he never saw the nightmares coming.

.

He was running, hard and fast and with everything he had but those hands still caught him. So many hands caught him and dragged him down and held him so that he couldn't break free no matter how much he fought. He caught a glimpse of a familiar scar as one reached out to grab a fistful of his hair, but it was instantly forgotten because then Gin was there, leering over him, one small, innocent-looking pill held lightly between two fingers. Shinichi's head was wrenched back and as he let out a startled cry Gin shoved the pill into his mouth. A rush of water was dumped over his face and he choked and spluttered as it filled his mouth and nose, but then a hand was there, tight over his face, and he couldn't breathe.

Confused and desperate in his want for air, Shinichi swallowed, but none of the hands holding him released him and his vision darkened behind a watery film of tears. Just before the blackness could close around him completely, a jarring pulse of pain rocketed through his body – that same pulse he'd learned to fear above any other pain–

Shinichi jerked up, wrenching himself free from hands that didn't exist with a harsh gasp. He clenched shaking fists into the blanket in his lap and consciously took in a slower, softer breath, but while the pain and fear had faded quickly, the feeling of helplessness had not. It was the feeling that, after all this time, really nothing had changed. It was being able to solve murders but not stop them. It was Aso Seiji killing himself all over again.

Kaito had woken instantly when Shinichi did. The card gun, which was never anywhere out of easy reach, was in his hand in almost the same moment and he threw a quick glance around the room, searching for threats before focusing in on Shinichi. He was sitting up, pale and shivering, and Kaito set the gun aside before shifting over to sit behind him, slipping his arms around him in a firm embrace. Shinichi resisted at first with a reflexive jerk, but Kaito did not let go. He just whispered his name, soft and insistent, and Shinichi froze for a moment before relaxing back against Kaito's chest and covering his face with a shaking hand.

After just a few moments, Kaito reached up and gently guided his hand back down away from his face. "It helps to see where you are," he said, his chin resting lightly on Shinichi's shoulder. "If you close your eyes it will just stick with you." Shinichi only nodded, staring down at their hands, linked together in a jumble over his stomach. "Do you want me to turn on the light–?"

"Don't you dare move," Shinichi said and Kaito smiled, just a little smug.

"I can do that." He wriggled a little farther down against the pillows, gathering Shinichi up so that his head was tucked against Kaito's neck, Kaito's arms still tight around him. He could feel the tension in Shinichi's body slowly easing away. "You're all right," he murmured. Shinichi gave a small hum of agreement, his eyes closed, and Kaito passed light fingers across his forehead, ruffling his bangs with a small smile. _What am I gonna do with you?_

He felt more than heard the quiet mumble against his shoulder and shifted a little but he still couldn't quite see Shinichi's face. "Hm?"

"…love you, Kaito," Shinichi murmured.

Kaito blushed and he blinked a few times before a smile broke over his face, and he had to hold himself back from laughing so that he wouldn't disturb Shinichi who seemed to have already fallen back into a quiet sleep. He ducked his head a little to press a kiss into Shinichi's hair.

"I love you, Shinichi."


	22. Chapter 22

**Case 22 – Stranger**

.

Shinichi wasn't sure if it was better or worse when the owners of the targeted jewels insisted on being involved, but for the most part he figured on worse.

Satonaka Yukie wasn't even the owner, per se, but she certainly did seem to feel a deep sense of responsibility for the Tiger's Blood Ruby that was on display at her luxury hotel, enough so that she had had a… somewhat _drastic_ security system installed before the scheduled showing. The whole hotel was rigged with high-tech traps that could only be turned on and off by turning three keys in two different locations at the same time, with a third location and dummy key that was a trap in itself. Alarms were set to sound any time the traps were turned off as well, regardless of how or why.

It was also fairly obvious by the set up that Satonaka was far more interested in locking KID in once he got there than she was in keeping him out in the first place, and Shinichi had decided to keep a close eye on her. The effort she was putting in for a jewel that wasn't actually hers gave off the feeling of a personal grudge, and he wanted to be there in case she took it too far. For all anyone knew, she could easily be another Organization member, after all.

They were all gathered in the display room at the end of a long stretch of hallway that Shinichi knew had been rigged near to bursting with formidable traps at the time of the heist notice, and he wasn't quite sure if he should have been surprised or not when KID appeared at the end of that long hall and started strolling down it, hands tucked casually into his pockets.

By the time he reached the display room (without a single hindrance) both Nakamori and Satonaka looked as though they might just grab the thief and strangle him with their bare hands. It did not help matters when KID stepped through the open doorway into the room, greeted them with a sweeping bow and a sharp grin, and said in a clear taunt, "Now really, an empty hallway? Are you even trying today? I mean, I know I'm amazing but don't be disheartened! We've all got to do our best, right~?"

"I don't know how you did that, KID," Nakamori said, leveling an accusatory finger at him. "But there's no way you're getting through to that jewel!" He placed himself in front of KID as if he could bodily block him from getting by. KID tilted his head.

"You mean this jewel?" The Tiger's Blood Ruby appeared between his fingers with a gleam and everyone whipped around to look at the now empty display case in the center of the room – everyone except Shinichi, who kept sharp eyes on KID while the others were distracted. KID winked at him, and Shinichi caught the subtle twitch of KID's hand, still in his pocket. When everyone's focus was on KID once again, he waved, turned, and dashed back down the hallway just ahead of Nakamori's lunge.

"Hold it, KID!" Nakamori shouted, and he, Satonaka, and the handful of task force members present all took off down the hall.

"Wait, don't–!" Shinichi called out, but it was too late. All along the hallway, traps started closing on each of the unfortunate officers and a particularly distraught and disheveled hotel manager until every one of them was boxed up in little iron cells. KID, of course, was long gone.

Shinichi let out a sigh and the sound drew the attention of the frazzled Satonaka. "Hey, you!" she shouted. "You've got to go catch KID!"

"I'm sorry, Satonaka-san, but how do you expect me to get out of this room? Your traps are clearly active."

She sighed, trying to sound more annoyed than embarrassed, but her face was rapidly turning pink. "We already tripped everything in this hallway. You won't have any trouble getting through," she said, resigned. "Just get after him!"

"What about the rest of the hotel?" Shinichi pointed out, not moving.

Satonaka's face was bright red by this point, and she actually looked like she might start crying. Shinichi shifted uncomfortably. "Fire codes," she mumbled.

"Eh?"

"They wouldn't let me set traps through the whole hotel because of fire codes. They were only ever in the hallways leading directly to the display room from the beginning."

"A bluff, huh?" Shinichi gave her a slightly pitying look and headed cautiously into the hallway. As promised, no further traps went off, even after he made it to the end and out into the rest of the hotel, and he breathed a small sigh of relief. Kaito would never let him forget it if he got caught like the others.

But now came the matter of finding him. Without so much as a glance back at the others still locked in their cages, he made for a stairwell that he knew led to a security control room. With any luck, KID would have left the surveillance cameras alone since his plans tonight didn't seem to involve much sneaking around.

The door to the control room was standing open when Shinichi arrived and he could see already that the uniformed security officers were sound asleep in their chairs. But they weren't in there alone. A man dressed in all black with his face covered was at the control panel for the security system, gloved fingers moving over keys and switches incredibly fast, even as he kept one eye on the feed from the cameras. Shinichi inched closer, edging into the room to get a better look at what the man was watching, and saw KID standing on a balcony on the third floor. The security screens had no sound, but Shinichi could tell that he was speaking vibrantly to all of the cheering fans gathered below, radiating that same excitement and joy that Shinichi occasionally had the privilege to glimpse whenever he saw Kaito just before a heist. His eyes slid back over to the man in black. Fingers light on the anesthetic watch, he took another step, about to fire, but the man glanced back – and disappeared in a large cloud of orange smoke. Momentarily stunned, Shinichi almost didn't notice KID vanishing from the security screens as well.

Confused but still suspicious, Shinichi moved farther into the room, checking all of the screens, then turned and ran for the hotel's second floor restaurant and out onto the balcony there. It gave a good view of the crowd below and he quickly spotted the man. He had removed his face covering and was picking through the masses – the only person heading away from the hotel in a casual sort of hurry.

Shinichi quickly removed the elasticity suspenders to hook them around the balcony's railing. Then he climbed over the rail, tucked his foot into the loop, and clicked the button to extend the elastic down to the grass below. He was running the moment he touched ground, leaving the suspenders swinging from the balcony. He would just have to come back for them later.

He cut past the crowd and was just in time to see the man break free of the mob of fans. Shinichi followed him at a careful distance until he stopped at what seemed to be a billiards parlor. The place was dark, and a "closed" sign was up in the window, but the man just opened the apparently unlocked door and walked inside.

Shinichi swore softly. If there was a back way out, the guy could easily slip away, but following him inside without any clue as to what he could be getting himself into was probably not the safest choice. His feet carried him forward anyway.

He ran silently across the street and up to the door, pausing for a moment to listen, then wrenched it open and ran inside, his watch raised and ready to fire. The man was there, leaning against a table and facing away from the door, but he whipped around when it opened, a vaguely familiar-looking device held ready in his hand and outstretched toward Shinichi. Both of them were about to pull the triggers on their respective weapons when KID suddenly popped up between them, stopping them both.

"Now, now," KID said, the man's device and Shinichi's watch now in each of his hands. "Let's not get carried away. I don't want to have to drag _both_ of you back home." He turned slightly to the man in black. "How's our helper? She make it out okay?"

The man's eyes darted to Shinichi again for a moment before he gave a slight nod.

"So he _is_ working with you," Shinichi sighed, instantly relaxing his stance. "Geez KID, a little warning next time. I thought he was one of _them_."

KID laughed as he handed the watch back over to Shinichi and made the other device disappear. "Nope. Here, let me introduce you. Tantei-kun, this is Jii Konosuke. He was my old man's assistant and now he helps me out on some of my heists."

Jii stared at KID, extremely alarmed that he had just told a detective Jii's real name and… _everything._ "Bocchama…" he started carefully, but KID just laughed again.

"Calm down, Jii-chan. He's not going to tell anyone." Jii shifted subtly, his face still displaying nervous skepticism, and KID rolled his eyes. "Tantei-kun, come here." He reached out and caught Shinichi's wrist, pulling him over, and Shinichi suddenly found himself wrapped in KID's arms. A gloved hand slipped up into his hair and then KID was kissing him and for a few moments Shinichi was aware of little else.

When KID pulled away again, Shinichi had to forcibly restrain a groan of protest, because really that would just be unprofessional. But he couldn't seem to find it in himself to step away. KID apparently had no problem with this. His arms remained wrapped around Shinichi even as he turned to look at Jii. "Definitely trustworthy," he said, grinning.

"You know, there are better ways to tell people we're dating," Shinichi commented when he'd found his voice again.

"And not a single one of them is as fun. I mean really, I might never have known you could turn such an impressive shade of red otherwise, Tantei-kun~"

"'Shinichi'…" Jii murmured in slow-dawning realization. "The Shinichi you talk about… is _Kudou_ Shinichi? The detective from the clock tower?"

KID and Shinichi both looked over at him, then back at each other. "Heh, yeah," KID said with a smirk. "You gave me some trouble that night." Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"Bocchama…" Jii started again, and Shinichi finally stepped away from KID to hold his hand out to Jii.

"Jii-san, it's nice to officially meet you. My name is Kudou Shinichi. I'm Kaito's boyfriend."

Jii stared at him for a few more seconds before slowly taking his hand, but it was clear he was still uncomfortable with the situation. KID stayed back, watching impassively.

"I understand your concern," Shinichi said to Jii. "But I don't intend to betray his trust. And besides… Kaito's not really the type to trust people easily, and there's no one better at reading people. You can trust his judgment… can't you?" He smiled at him and Jii breathed out a laugh.

"I suppose I'll have to."

KID bounded up behind Shinichi suddenly and draped his arms over the detective's shoulders, touching a quick kiss to his cheek. "You're so sweet, Tantei-kun~!"

"Sweet?" Shinichi said, startled. "I thought I was being, I don't know, reasonable? I can understand how you wouldn't recognize that," he added with a little smirk.

"Aw, come on, you know you love me~"

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "I can't believe I should even have to defend myself to a couple of thieves," he teased back. The grin he received then was one hundred percent Kaito. Pulling free of KID's grasp again, Shinichi turned for the door and threw his hand up in a quick wave. "I should go make sure the task force got out of those traps okay."

"Tantei-kun,"

He paused and turned back and KID tossed the Tiger's Blood Ruby over to him.

"No, huh," Shinichi said, resigned. KID shrugged and Shinichi stuffed his hands into his pockets along with the jewel as he headed out of the parlor. "See you later," he called.

"Tonight~?" KID said. Shinichi glanced back one last time with a smirk but didn't answer and Kaito grinned back at him as he left.

Once he was gone, Jii turned to KID. "Really, Bocchama?" he sighed. "A detective? I know you like a challenge but–"

"He's not just a detective," KID said, and he was still smiling but there was a hardness in the glance he cast over at Jii that showed just how serious he was. "He's Shinichi."

Gradually, Jii smiled. "All right."

"Come on; let's get out of here," KID said, stretching his arms a little before dropping a smoke bomb. When it cleared, he was dressed in ordinary street clothes.

"Before you leave," Jii said and Kaito paused, instantly on alert at the hesitance in Jii's voice. "There was another one here tonight," he murmured. "Another one of those people out to kill you."

" _What?_ "

"I took care of him, but there wasn't an opportunity to alert the police. We'll need to let them know somehow before someone finds him in that closet and lets him go."

"Jii-chan…" Kaito grabbed Jii's shoulder, his expression distinctly unhappy. "You should have let me know right away. It's dangerous to get mixed up with these people any more than you have to."

"I'm not going to apologize, Bocchama. I do this because I want to help you catch Toichi-sama's murderer, and to keep them from taking anyone else I love." He patted Kaito's hand with an affectionate smile. "I'm not going to stop and you can't make me," he said, and Kaito thought he seemed a little too cheerful about that.

"Yeah, yeah," Kaito sighed, smiling a little. "Anyway, I guess I should let Shinichi know about our _visitor_. He'll take care of it." A piece of paper and a pen appeared in his hands in little puffs of smoke and he went to the bar to write out his message. "There are some perks to having a boyfriend who's in with the police~"

.

Shinichi stopped on his way back to the display room to pick up the suspenders he'd left behind. He found the task force gathered in the hallway, all helping each other out of the deactivated traps. Apparently one of them had been able to call for help to come and shut them off. He walked up to Nakamori and pulled out the ruby.

"Here, Inspector," he said, placing the heavy jewel into Nakamori's hand.

Satonaka was standing nearby and she rushed over to them, staring down at the gem. "You caught him?" she demanded, eyes wide.

"No," Shinichi said. "I ran into one of his assistants and tried to follow him back to KID, but I lost track of him and ended up finding the ruby instead." It was amazing how easily the lies flowed out. It was a little like being Conan again. "KID probably knew I'd been following the guy and left the jewel where I would see it."

"You mean he really does just… _give_ them back?" Satonaka asked.

"Of course," Shinichi and Nakamori both answered.

There was a small, muted explosion above them at that moment and everyone looked up to see a miniature white parachute drifting down from the ceiling out of a little cloud of smoke. It landed neatly in Shinichi's hands and he removed the attached notecard.

 _._

 _When a parrot crosses paths with a crow, there's bound to be some cleanup involved, but all is secure, so I'll leave that to you, Tantei-kun~_

 _-Kaitou KID_

 _._

Shinichi blinked down at the message. _Crow… So one of them_ was _here. It sounds like it's already taken care of though. Parrot… Blue Parrot was the name of that billiards hall we just met in. He probably means Jii-san. So Jii-san ran into an Organization member and took him out before they could get to KID. That probably means there's a sniper sleeping around here somewhere. Cleanup… Secure… Jii-san was manning the security control room. There's a janitors' closet near there!_

Nakamori was peering over Shinichi's shoulder. "I knew we got off too easy," he said warily. "What does it mean? He's not planning to cover us all in feathers again, is he?"

"What?" Shinichi said, looking up from the note. "Uh, no, I think KID's long gone. This is something… else… I'll be right back!" He took off running down the hall, leaving the bewildered group behind, and headed once again to the security control room. He threw open the door of the closet nearby and found a young man propped up on the floor inside, asleep and tied rather thoroughly with rope. Shinichi let out a dry laugh. _I think… Jii-san probably fits in better with the Kurobas than I first thought._ He knelt and took a closer look at the man. The lower half of his face was covered with a cloth mask, and he was wearing gloves. Resting on the floor beside him was a handgun and silencer. Shinichi let out a heavy sigh.

 _What the hell am I supposed to do with this, though? This isn't enough to arrest the guy. He looks like a victim tied up like this._ He took out a handkerchief and picked up the gun, carefully checking it over. _It doesn't even look like this has been fired recently._ "Tch." He stuffed the gun and silencer into his jacket pockets. _Still…_ he thought, staring at the sleeping man. _I trust Kaito. If he says this guy is Organization, I can't just leave it alone. He came here to kill KID._ "What a pain," Shinichi murmured. "I guess I have no choice." He reached for the ropes around the man's ankles and started working the knots free.

.

Kaito hadplanned to go back to the Kudou manor to wait for Shinichi after the heist, but that was _before_ he'd learned about the would-be assassin. And, well, there was no reason he shouldn't stick around, especially since the task force knew him and were willing to let him inside now that the heist was over with anyway. He found Nakamori standing at the display case of the Tiger's Blood Ruby, staring pensively down at the gem that was once again resting neatly behind glass.

"Inspector," Kaito said, walking up behind him.

"Ah, Kaito-kun." Nakamori glanced back. "Looking for Kudou-kun?"

Kaito's hand moved up behind his head, a sheepish grin on his face. "Yeah, have you seen him?"

"I haven't seen him since he ran off earlier. KID sent an extra riddle after the heist was over and Kudou-kun took off somewhere right after reading it. Really, he's always running off…" he muttered.

 _What? He didn't tell the police? Why the hell not? What is he doing?_ "Heh, right," Kaito said. "I guess I'd be better off waiting for him at his house after all. Thanks, Nakamori-keibu. See ya around!" He headed away from the display room and his eyes flickered over the security cameras in the ceiling. After he was a good distance away, he slipped into an empty bathroom.

.

"Tantei-kun, _what_ are you doing?"

Shinichi jumped a little at the sudden whisper in his ear and pressure against his back. He was crouching behind one of the large island counters in the hotel kitchen when KID had suddenly appeared, crouched right behind him, close enough that his chest pressed against Shinichi's back. Shinichi swallowed a sharp reply, taking a quiet breath to calm himself so they wouldn't be heard. He'd been following the Organization member ever since the guy had woken up in the closet, watching him to see what he'd do, but so far he'd just been avoiding the police.

"This was supposed to be real simple," KID went on, still speaking right against Shinichi's ear to keep his voice from carrying in the empty kitchen. "I told you where he was, you tell the police, they go arrest him. How hard is that?"

"Idiot," Shinichi whispered back. "There was no proof. I can't ask the police to arrest the guy when all he was doing was sleeping tied up in a closet."

"So, what, you just plan to follow him around until he does something illegal?"

"Well I can't just let him walk away. What else can I d–?"

KID's hand came around to cover Shinichi's mouth as the man passed a little nearer to where they were hiding. When he moved away again, KID lowered his hand and muttered, "I swear it's like they don't even do their homework, can't _believe_ this guy hasn't found the back exit yet.

"Hey, what about the gun? He had to have had a gun on him, right?"

"I have it," Shinichi said. "I'll turn it in to the police later but I couldn't risk letting him go with a weapon like that."

"Ugh, Tantei-kun this is ridiculous. As far as that guy knows KID is long gone, and he doesn't even have a gun. He's not going to do anything illegal; he's just going to leave."

Shinichi jerked forward a little, nearly banging his forehead on the island in front of him when KID vanished. He hadn't realized he'd been pushing back against KID's weight until it was suddenly gone, and he'd overcompensated to keep from falling back. Then he heard a door opening and closing and he peeked out to look. There was no one around and Shinichi stood and ran to the back door, pausing to ease it carefully open and look out into the shadowy alleyway behind the hotel. The Organization member was running down it and Shinichi hurried after him, but both of them pulled up short when KID appeared, blocking off the man's path.

"Leaving so soon?" he asked. "Don't you have a job to do?" Then KID pulled out a gun and tossed it over to the man. Shinichi's hands went immediately to his pockets – the silencer was still there, and the gloves and face covering he'd taken off of the guy, but the gun was gone. Swearing sharply, he raised his watch.

It hardly took the man a moment to recover from his surprise and confusion. He checked that the gun was still loaded, hit the safety, aimed at KID, and pulled the trigger.

KID vanished in the same moment as the gunshot and the man wavered and dropped to his knees before he could so much as look around. Shinichi was standing right behind him, fingers still tense on the watch and his breath coming just a little too fast as his heart raced with the sharp spike of adrenaline. KID reappeared as the man slumped to the ground asleep, and rested an arm casually on Shinichi's shoulder as they both stared down at him.

"That went well," he said.

Shinichi closed the scope of the watch with a snap and knocked KID's arm away, rounding on him with a fierce glare. "What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded. "He could have killed you!"

"Oh? You didn't seem all _that_ concerned," KID replied, smirking. "After all, you could have shot him with the watch _before_ he fired the gun. But you waited – so there would be gunpowder residue, right? Hard evidence aside from fingerprints and your testimony so that the guy could be convicted."

"Tch." Shinichi crossed his arms, looking away.

"Don't worry," KID went on. "The security cameras show this alley. With all of that, there's no way he'll get off without jail time."

It was a real effort for Shinichi to keep from smiling and KID could see it in the bright heat in his eyes and the slight twitch of his lips.

"Anyway, it sounds like the police are heading this way. Time for me to go." He set off a smoke bomb and Shinichi flinched as the cloud surrounded them both, but then he felt a gloved hand slide against his cheek, and the soft press of lips against his own. "Hurry home after this, Tantei-kun," KID murmured. "I'll be waiting~" Then he was gone and Shinichi coughed a little as he waved at the clearing smoke.

"Kudou-san!" an officer called out to him as she ran up the alley. "What happened? We heard a gunshot!"

With a sigh, Shinichi started to explain.

.

"I'm home," Shinichi called as he shut the door behind him and toed off his shoes.

"How did it go?" Kaito asked, coming out into the foyer to meet him.

"Just like you said, of course."

"Good. Then we're done with distractions for the night?"

Shinichi paused in the motion of taking off his jacket and looked over at Kaito. "Yeah," he said after a moment of hesitation.

Kaito didn't say a word, just reached out for Shinichi's hand, pulled him forward, and wrapped his arms tight around him as their lips met, softer than Shinichi was expecting. Half tangled in Kaito's hold and the sleeves of the partially removed jacket, Shinichi shoved against Kaito with his shoulder to get him to step back. He did, laughing a little, and Shinichi shook off the jacket, leaving it on the floor as he grabbed onto Kaito's shirt and kissed him again. It was Kaito who broke away, moving to nuzzle into the side of Shinichi's neck.

"Hey, Shinichi," he whispered, warm breath tingling on Shinichi's skin. "Tell me. I want you to say it. The reason you didn't knock that guy out when you had the chance."

"Idiot. Because you didn't want me to."

Kaito's body went unnaturally still for a moment. Then he drew back a little to look at Shinichi. The detective regarded him with an impatient stare.

"Why are you asking about something obvious at a time like this?"

Kaito blinked, then grinned. "Well, I _was_ trying to get you to say something romantic like 'I trust you' but as it turns out you're even better than I thought."

"Shut up," Shinichi muttered, his face going a little pink. "It's the same thing isn't it? If you think I can't read you at least that much–"

"You should stop talking," Kaito said, and Shinichi stopped because Kaito's voice had lowered and his body had pressed closer and his fingers had acquired a possessive grip on Shinichi's hips. "You're–"

Shinichi cut him off with a fierce kiss that had Kaito gasping but neither pulled back, just sinking deeper into each other.

"…Look, Shinichi, I gotta take a chance here."

The words were a breathless whisper against Shinichi's lips – Kaito too reluctant to part from him, yet unable to deny the words their chance. The feeling of their bodies pressed together was getting distinctly difficult to ignore. "Do you wanna… go further with this?"

Shinichi drew back just slightly. It was quiet and still in the Kudou manor and he felt his face heat as he said into the exposing silence, "…Could we talk about how this is gonna go?"

A small thrill rushed through Kaito, his whole face lighting up. He brought his hand to rest against Shinichi's cheek, just looking into his eyes for a little too long.

"…Kaito?"

"Heh, sorry, just… I just love you so much," Kaito laughed.

Shinichi pulled back a little more, his face going a darker shade of red. "Kaito–" he warned.

"No! No, I'm not making fun of you." Kaito let his fingers trail down Shinichi's arm and took his hand, and Shinichi's fingers curled around his without a thought. "Look, it's my first time too," Kaito said softly. "And I was really hoping we could take it slow. I do trust you, but… I'm kinda nervous, you know?" He gave a slightly sheepish, vulnerable smile. "I made a decision a long time ago that if there was ever anyone I felt this strongly about – anyone I wanted to do this with – I could only be _me_ ," Kaito confessed, and Shinichi found himself fascinated because Kaito really was nervous, and it _showed_. It was different from seeing through his barriers – they just weren't there. "There are a lot of things in my life that mean a constant layer of masks, but… not this. This is just you and me. I'm dropping every defense I have here, Shinichi. And I want _you_ to be in control. So… Is that… Are you okay with that?"

Shinichi blinked, a little stunned, but then he smiled. His fingers dusted up the back of Kaito's neck, sliding into his hair, and he leaned in close. "Yeah, of course, Kaito," he murmured against the side of his neck, all reassurance and comfort and newfound confidence that somehow eased something in Kaito. "We'll go slow."

"Well…" Kaito said, a stronger blush rising to his cheeks as he gripped Shinichi's hips again and pressed up against him, making Shinichi suck in a quiet breath and cling harder. "Maybe more _careful_ than slow. I _have_ waited a really long time for this."

Shinichi laughed and Kaito smiled, so genuine that Shinichi's heart sped a little. "…Can I assume you already have everything we'll need hidden away in my room somewhere?" he asked, amused. The smile quickly became a grin and Shinichi grinned back, unable to stop it.

"Let's go upstairs."


	23. Chapter 23

**Case 23 – Fire**

.

" _That person isn't pleased with Snake's performance lately. I've been asked to keep an eye on him."_

"… _So my assignment–"_

" _Your pet project is on hold. You've already gotten involved in Snake's side of things once. I'm giving you over to him. You'll take his orders, but I want you reporting back to me."_

"… _Of course."_

.

Kaito looked up from the news article on his laptop when Shinichi came into the sitting room and dropped his bag on the floor by the couch.

"So far college is not much better than high school," he said, yawning.

"You don't _have_ to go to every class, you know," Kaito pointed out. "Hey, did you hear about this?" He turned the laptop a little toward Shinichi. "That huge new dessert café had a break-in and they had to delay the grand opening."

Shinichi moved behind the couch to read over Kaito's shoulder. "That's kind of weird… Why would somebody…?" He trailed off, reading a little more of the article before making an unhappy sort of sound and heading for the kitchen to make coffee.

"I think it's got the owners pretty unsettled," Kaito commented, raising his voice a little to carry to the next room. "One of them was hurt and they're not sure when it's gonna open now. That's such a shame; I was hoping we could go check it out next weekend."

A buzzing nearby took his eyes from the article again and he leaned over to pull the cell phone from Shinichi's bag. "Hey, your phone's ringing," Kaito called. "It's Hattori."

Shinichi wandered back into the room and Kaito tossed the phone behind him in a high arch without looking. Shinichi caught it and answered.

"Hey, Hattori. What's up?"

"Oh, y'know, just enjoyin' the wonderful city of Osaka," Hattori said with an audible grin. "Care for a visit?"

"What, _now_?" Shinichi said flatly. He headed back into the kitchen to start the coffee brewing.

"No, not _now_. Next weekend. My old man said he could get us some time on the police firing range."

Shinichi's sarcastic attitude dropped away instantly. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. He seemed ta think it was a good idea when I brought it up. I think he's worried I'll be an embarrassment if I don't get some practice in. So how's next Saturday?"

"Heh, yeah I'm pretty sure I'm free. Sounds good."

"Great! I'll see ya then. I gotta run – I'm supposed ta be meetin' Kazuha. Later!"

Shinichi walked back into the sitting room and tossed the phone on top of his bag.

"Something good happen?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah, Hattori's dad is gonna let us practice at the police range next weekend."

"Heh, _that's_ what you're excited about?"

"Well yeah. It's not an opportunity that comes around very often."

"I suppose," Kaito said, smirking. "Can't have you getting rusty, after all."

"Shut up. Not all of us have legally questionable weapons that we practice with whenever we want."

"Hey, you're more than welcome to practice with the card gun. Hell, I'll make you one of your own if you want."

"Because _that_ wouldn't be suspicious," Shinichi said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, you should come along. Not to the range, but to Osaka at least. You still haven't met Hattori as Kuroba Kaito yet and he's starting to get kind of weird about it."

"Huh? Weird how?"

"Like, whenever I mention you he gives me this look like he's trying to figure out if I'm lying."

"Yeah? What are you saying about me? Just talking about how amazing I am?" He wiggled his eyebrows at Shinichi, grinning widely, and Shinichi plucked a pillow from the couch and threw it at his face. He ducked, folding protectively over his open laptop, and the pillow dropped over the back of the couch.

"Yeah right," Shinichi scoffed. "More like complaining about how you never let me sleep in. So are you coming or not?"

"Hm…" Kaito said, looking thoughtful as he closed his laptop. "It _would_ be interesting to observe him up close."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Shinichi asked, suddenly wary.

"Nothing, nothing." He waved a hand through the air. "Just something I was talking to Sonoko about."

Shinichi's hand came up to cover his face. "I don't even want to imagine what the two of you could have been talking about that concerns Hattori. Just… don't pull any tricks on him like you do with Hakuba-kun, okay?"

"Why would I do something like that?" Kaito said, blinking innocently up at him.

"I don't know. Just because he's a detective? Why do you do it to Hakuba-kun all the time?"

"I do it to Hakuba because he's a bastard," Kaito stated. "What, do you think I just prank every detective I meet? I don't do it to you."

"Probably 'cause I'd see right through it," Shinichi scoffed. "I know you too well."

"Is _that_ what you think." Kaito set his computer on the coffee table and stood, moving toward Shinichi who tensed immediately. He could see in each fluid, predatory motion that Kaito was looking to get into trouble. Or to get Shinichi into trouble.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don't do it to you because it's too easy?" he suggested, circling around to come up behind Shinichi and drape himself over his shoulders.

Shinichi glanced back to give him a skeptical look. "How so?"

"Well it goes both ways, doesn't it? You know me too well, but I know you, too. I have you _memorized,_ Shinichi. I know where you're likely to look. I know what draws your attention and what gets filtered out."

Kaito snapped his fingers and the lights all through the house went out, leaving Shinichi blinking in the darkness. Kaito had vanished in the same instant and Shinichi immediately started for the hallway, navigating by moonlight. He took a suspicious glance around the empty hall then headed toward the foyer, and Kaito suddenly appeared again, catching his shoulders from behind to pull him back against him.

"I know how you move," he said quietly. "And I know why. And it's almost second nature to put that knowledge to use." He leaned in closer, his lips against Shinichi's ear. "In all sorts of ways~"

"Tch." Shinichi pulled out of Kaito's grip and turned, but something tugged at his arm and he paused, glancing down though he couldn't quite see in the darkness. Something was definitely wrapped around his wrist and, he suspected, the banister, because he couldn't pull away. When he tried to tug the wrapping (it felt like… silk?) off, he found his other wrist suddenly caught as well. He blinked down blindly at his trapped hands.

"See?" An amused voice said from nearby. "Easy. I've caught you already."

"…Kaito–"

"Yes?" He felt Kaito step up behind him again, pressing his chest to Shinichi's back, and his arms looped around him, fingers slipping up under Shinichi's shirt to trace lightly across his hips and stomach. Shinichi could feel the blush rising up the back of his neck and he was glad, for the moment, that the lights were out, because he had the feeling it would be much worse if Kaito could see him.

Kaito's lips found their way to Shinichi's neck and he smiled a little, feeling Shinichi's pulse race under his touch.

"Kaito," Shinichi breathed out. He made another halfhearted attempt to free his hands. "What's gotten into you?"

"Gotten into me?" Kaito repeated. He pressed closer and said in a _criminally_ seductive whisper, " _You_ , Shinichi. And maybe… you will again…?"

"K-Kaito!" Shinichi stammered, his face burning.

"There's not really anything to be shy about anymore, Shinichi," Kaito soothed, nuzzling into his neck again. "Not that there ever was," he added, and the words held the sultry weight of his full appreciation for his detective, mind and body alike.

"You're shameless," Shinichi muttered. Then, "If that's what you want, you're gonna have to untie me."

Kaito grinned and pressed another kiss to his neck as his hands ghosted over Shinichi's, the silk scarf slipping away and vanishing. "Gladly," he purred.

.

Shinichi and Kaito caught a (surprisingly murder-free) flight to Osaka the next week and made their way to the police headquarters. Hattori was waiting for them outside the building.

"Hey, ya made it!" he called as they crossed the parking lot. "Who's this?" he asked, looking Kaito over.

"This is Kaito," Shinichi said on a sigh. "I _did_ tell you he was coming along so he could meet you."

"S-Seriously?" Hattori stuttered and Kaito and Shinichi traded confused looks. "Er, I mean yeah, of course. Kuroba, right?" he said to Kaito, holding out his hand. "Hattori Heiji. Nice ta meet ya."

Kaito put on a smile and took his hand. "Same here."

"Wow, so… Wow. Huh. You look… a lot like Kudou," Hattori observed, looking between the two.

"Just one of those faces I guess," Kaito said, shrugging it off. "Well, don't let me hold you up. I'm gonna go wander the city. I'll meet up with you guys when you're done." He grinned and flicked them a salute then headed off.

Hattori watched him go then cast a furtive glance at Shinichi. "So ya actually do have a boyfriend," he said, and he sounded a little baffled.

Shinichi raised an eyebrow at him. "Um, yeah Hattori. I told you about him months ago."

"I know, I know, but I seriously thought it was just some kinda lie that happened when things started goin' south with you an' Neechan."

"…You _seriously_ thought I made him up?" Shinichi asked, staring. "Doesn't that seem kind of extreme?"

"I don't know, I mean it's not like ya haven't lived a completely secret double life before, _Kudou_ ," Hattori accused. "And… I mean I had no idea you were… y'know."

"What?"

"Y'know," he stated again. "That you were interested in that."

"In _what_?" Shinichi repeated. Surely he didn't think he had no interest in a relationship after everything he went through trying to build one with Ran.

"In… people like Kuroba."

"…Magicians?" _Thieves?_ he added silently.

"In _guys_ , Kudou!" Hattori said, completely exasperated. "I had no idea ya were romantically interested in guys. I mean I _always_ figured you an' Neechan would get together after ya both stopped bein' so stupid about it."

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "You've got no right to be acting superior while you're in the same boat with Kazuha," he said.

Hattori made a face but otherwise ignored the comment and pushed on. "What I _mean_ is, I've never seen ya show any real interest in anyone else, so what gives?"

Shinichi considered for the barest of moments pointing out how obsessed he'd been (and technically still was) with KID, but that had _bad idea_ written all over it, so he kept it to himself. "What do you mean 'what gives'?" he asked. "I like Kaito; what difference does it make?"

"What diff–?" Hattori breathed out, cutting himself off in his disbelief. "Ya mean besides the obvious?"

"Apparently it's not all that obvious to me," Shinichi grumbled.

"Sex, Kudou," Hattori stated, trying to convince himself that they should be able to discuss this like two mature, reasonable people – but his face was dark red anyway. "I'm talkin' about sex."

"Oh," Shinichi said, blushing a little and looking off to the side. "What about it?"

"…Are ya just messin' with me? It's obviously different!"

"Not in any way large enough to matter…" he said. "I mean, I guess it makes an important difference if you want to have kids, but we're way too young to be thinking about stuff like that now."

"Kids?!" Hattori choked out. "Whoa Kudou, geez, slow down! You've only been with this guy… Actually, how long _have_ you been with him?"

Shinichi thought back. It had been early October, hadn't it? "A year," he realized. "Almost exactly."

Hattori's expression turned suddenly sly and he leaned in, grinning. "Ya didn't forget an anniversary _already_ did ya?" he asked.

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

Hattori rocked back again and shook his head. "I don't know, Kudou. It's still so weird ta think _you're_ actually _datin'_ somebody an' not just dancin' around the issue."

Deciding to hold back any further comment on Hattori and Kazuha, Shinichi said with a smirk, "He made a convincing argument."

"Now _that_ sounds like you," Hattori laughed. "C'mon." He jerked a thumb toward the doors. "Let's head in."

.

Kaito was already _extremely_ familiar with Osaka, having pulled a few of his more elaborate heists in the city before, so he was glad of the distraction when his phone rang.

"Aoko!" he said brightly, answering it right away. "What's up?"

"Hey Kaito," Aoko said. "Just wanted to talk. Do you have a minute?"

"For you, I have all the time in the world," he proclaimed smoothly.

"You're bored, aren't you."

"So bored, but I'm trying _really hard_ to keep out of trouble. Distract me."

"Sure. But you know, if you're that bored you could always… visit an aquarium," Aoko suggested innocently.

Kaito twitched. " _Sadist_ ," he hissed into the phone, eyes narrowed into a heated glare.

Aoko laughed. "It's payback in advance for the attitude you're gonna give me when I tell you I've got a date with Saguru-kun."

Kaito bit out a short series of unintelligible, choked off sounds. "You've got _what_?" he finally managed.

"A date," Aoko replied.

" _Why_?"

"I don't know. He's charming. I thought I'd give him a chance."

"Oh please, you couldn't stand him when he first came 'round," Kaito groused.

"Of course not," Aoko said in a clipped tone. "He kept flirting with me and it was annoying because at the time I was interested in _you_ , though I have no idea _why_. I was probably just jealous 'cause _you_ would flirt with every marginally attractive person you came across."

"'Marginally attractive'? Don't put yourself down, Ahoko. I have pretty high standards."

"Somehow I doubt that."

Kaito's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You gonna start insulting Shinichi now? 'Cause I won't stand for that."

"Not at all," Aoko said lightly. "Kudou-kun is _way_ too good for you. You just got lucky, Bakaito."

"Oh really? Well I still think you're too good for that Hakuba bastard."

"…Wait, that was actually kind of sweet. …Sort of. But anyway, it doesn't matter what you say. I've decided to give him a chance so that's that. Besides, Chikage-san thinks I should go for it."

"Oi, oi, don't go taking relationship advice from my mom," Kaito groaned. He'd heard the story of how Chikage and Toichi had met (several times, actually), and while he loved both of his parents to death and back, he wasn't so sure about his mother's choice to run off with his dad, and to let KID take over for Phantom Lady so easily. Toichi had been a stranger at the time. An impressive and charming stranger – KID would always be KID after all – but a stranger nonetheless. Though, Kaito supposed, Chikage was probably just romanticizing the whole thing. He had to assume that there were much more reasonable discussions, and that they took time to get to know each other after that first meeting, but it was possible that Chikage simply didn't remember it that way. She always seemed to prefer to remember Toichi as the dazzling, fearless magician who had swept her off her feet.

"Well why not?" Aoko pouted into the phone. "From what I remember, your parents' relationship was great."

"Okay, yeah, it was," Kaito said. "But still, she tends to err more on the impulsive side."

"She just goes at her own pace," she replied dismissively and Kaito muttered back, "That might not be a good thing."

"Oh, you're being ridiculous. It worked out for her, didn't it? You always talk about how great your dad was."

"Wait, hold on, we are _not_ comparing my old man to _Hakuba_. You wanna talk about ridiculous? Geez."

"No one's comparing anyone. And for that matter, no one's being impulsive. It's one date, Kaito, so try to be happy for me instead, okay?"

Kaito cringed. "Yeah, okay I guess. Sorry. But if he does or says _anything_ out of line you just let me know. I will _happily_ see to it that he regrets it."

"And if _you_ do anything to mess this up for me, I will happily see to it that your car is filled to overflowing with fish so fresh they're still wiggling," Aoko threatened cheerfully.

A shiver ran up and down Kaito's spine and he froze mid-step, eyes wide, staring at the bustling street ahead of him as he did his best not to picture that sight. "Hell, Aoko," he said weakly once he'd unfrozen, pushing a hand through his hair. "That's not funny."

"Sure it is," she replied. "Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes. I'm meeting Keiko now, so I gotta go."

"Right," he said, getting himself back in hand. "Talk to you later."

"Bye!"

Kaito looked down at his phone for a long moment after Aoko had hung up. _This is a nightmare,_ he thought warily. And now he _really_ needed a distraction.

.

"Is it normally this empty?" Shinichi asked as he, Hattori, and Otaki walked into the firing range.

"Everybody cleared out 'cause Hei-chan's such a bad shot," Otaki joked, grinning at Hattori.

"Ha ha," Hattori said flatly. "Actually it would normally be busier," he explained to Shinichi. "But there's some kinda training session scheduled for today."

"So basically your dad only agreed because he knew this place would be deserted anyway," Shinichi said with a smirk.

He and Hattori followed Otaki's lead, receiving ear and eye protection from the officer at the desk before heading through another door into the range. Every cubicle was empty and Otaki took his bag to one in the middle and set it on the ledge to remove one of the department guns and some ammunition before handing the bag over to Hattori to do the same in the cubicle beside him. Then the bag passed to Shinichi and the three of them busied themselves with checking over the weapons in comfortable silence.

Otaki, far more familiar with both the range and his gun than his two young companions were, sent his target down range and started his rounds, and Hattori did as well soon after, but Shinichi took his time, just for the novelty of actually being able to. The last several times he'd handled a gun had been in the rush of conflict with one criminal or another. He was pleased that the motions of checking and loading it still felt familiar and right to him. When he finally sent his target down range and took aim, his first bullet hit dead center and a rush of satisfaction brought a somewhat smug smile to his face. Feeling more confident, he fired off a quick succession of shots, all evenly spaced around the outer ring of the circular target, and was about to reload when his eyes caught on Hattori's target. It was a mess of haphazard holes spread out all over the paper and Shinichi set the unloaded gun down on the ledge in front of him to watch Hattori shoot.

When he had finished, Shinichi tapped on the clear barrier between the cubicles and nodded toward the door. Confused, Hattori checked the gun to make sure it was empty and set it on the ledge, following Shinichi out of the range. Pushing his ear protection down around his neck, Shinichi turned to him.

"Hey, Hattori, has anyone ever actually taught you to shoot?"

"Shut up," Hattori snapped, face going faintly red.

"What? No, it's an honest question," Shinichi said.

Hattori's hand went to the back of his head. "Er, well… No, not really," he answered. "I got the whole safety lesson an' how everythin' works an' stuff tons of times but–"

Shinichi just nodded a little. "You seemed pretty good with the checks and reloading but…" He was staring at Hattori and Hattori shifted a little, watching him back, uncertain.

"Show me your kendo stance," Shinichi said suddenly.

Hattori gave him a skeptical look. "With what?"

"Nothing. Just pretend you're holding a sword."

He hesitated a few moments but brought his hands up in front of him as if he were holding a sword and bent his knees. "…This feels ridiculous," he muttered.

"No, ridiculous was that time you used that old woman's cane as a substitute sword during that bank robbery."

"Have I ever mentioned you're a trouble magnet," Hattori said, but he was more relaxed now, thinking less about it, and his stance seemed natural and solid.

"Frequently," Shinichi answered. "See? This is how it should feel holding a gun."

"Huh?"

"It feels different right? From how you were standing before, when you were shooting."

"Well, yeah."

"You should try to get to that feeling when you're holding a gun. You should be comfortable with it."

"Easy for you ta say."

"Just try it," Shinichi insisted.

Hattori stared at him, then closed his eyes and shook his head. "Whatever ya say, Kudou. You're the expert." He turned back to the door of the range but stopped short when the door to the hallway opened and an officer stepped inside.

"Oh, Hattori-kun… Is Otaki-keibu with ya?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's in the range. …Is somethin' up?"

She was spared deciding how to answer when Otaki walked out of the range. "Hey, are you two done already or what? Oh, Kitase-san."

"Quick word?" she said, and Otaki walked over to her. They turned away from Hattori and Shinichi and she spoke quietly. When she had finished Otaki nodded.

"What's up," Hattori asked immediately and the look on Otaki's face told Shinichi that he knew it would be pointless to try to keep Hattori out of whatever was going on.

"There's been an incident. Why don't you two wait here–"

"Yeah right," Hattori scoffed. Kitase was already heading out into the hallway again.

"Sorry Kawachi-san, could ya take care of the guns in the range," Otaki asked the range officer over his shoulder as he followed after her. With Kawachi's assurance, Hattori hurried after them, Shinichi just a step behind. Otaki didn't even try to stop them at that point.

Kitase led the way down the hall to an evidence inventory room where a small cluster of officers was gathered. They let Otaki through and Shinichi and Hattori were left trying to see into the room around the others in the hallway. They caught just a glimpse of a woman sitting in a chair at a computer, but she was folded forward over the keyboard and, from the way Otaki was carefully skirting around the scene, she was probably dead.

Hattori and Shinichi exchanged looks and moved a little ways down the hall.

"Looks like they're thinkin' it's murder," Hattori muttered.

"Who would murder somebody in police headquarters?" Shinichi said. "…Did you recognize her?"

Hattori's eyes went to the ceiling as he tried to call to mind the woman's face and where he'd seen it before. "I think she's IT here," he finally said. "Not sure."

They both threw another glance down the hallway at the gathering of officers.

"They prolly don't need any help…" Hattori said, staring at the scene.

"Probably," Shinichi agreed. "…Wanna stick around anyway and see if we can get in to see the surveillance footage when they check it?"

Hattori grinned. "Of course!"

.

Strictly speaking, sneaking out onto the very top of the highest roof of the Abeno Harukas didn't really comply with Shinichi's request of "Don't do anything illegal," but Kaito wasn't going to get caught, so he didn't figure it mattered all _that_ much. And anyway, how was he supposed to resist? The tallest building in Japan? He couldn't pass that up, especially since it had only been built a few months earlier, so it hadn't been there the last time he was in Osaka for a heist.

Kaito had gone up to the top of the Abeno Harukas the legal way at first, but he'd gotten bored again all too quickly. _The only view worth seeing,_ he thought, ginning wildly as he settled himself on a precarious ledge at the very highest possible spot he could find. _Is a perfectly unobstructed one – and one that provides a little more of a challenge~_

The sun was beginning to set and he watched as it turned the city below him to a dark silhouette shot through with vibrant electric lights. Above it, clear blue sky paled to peach that gradually darkened, the stars faint above the bright and busy city. The view _was_ breathtaking, but he found he couldn't fully enjoy it.

Surely Shinichi hadn't intended to be at police headquarters this long.

Kaito checked his phone again but there were no messages, so he typed up a quick text and sent it out. There was really no need to be worried yet. He knew Shinichi was all too easily drawn into police business, so it should come as no surprise that leaving him at the Osaka headquarters with Hattori would result in him getting distracted for hours on end. But when the sun had fully set, the sky black all around him, and Shinichi still hadn't even replied, he decided he'd rather be sure.

.

Shinichi and Hattori lingered on the periphery of the scene, observing all they could without actually getting involved until the woman – Minekawa Haruki – was taken away for autopsy, and Otaki and a few other police detectives headed to the surveillance room to check the footage. Shinichi and Hattori followed after them casually, listening in on their discussion.

"Has anyone contacted her family?" one of them asked.

"She doesn't have any. Not that anyone here knows of, anyway."

"Really? Not even a boyfriend or anything? She was so cute…"

"Guess you really missed a chance there."

Hattori and Shinichi exchanged eye rolls but were distracted when Otaki suddenly slowed, pulling back behind the group to come up beside them.

"Hei-chan, ya know your father would want us to handle this. Don't ya think you and Kudou-kun should sit this one out?"

"Inside job, huh?" Hattori said, giving Otaki a flat look. "I don't care what my old man says. This concerns me too, ya know. I'm not sittin' on the sidelines."

Shinichi watched as Otaki considered arguing, and saw the moment the inspector gave up. "The surveillance footage will prolly give us all the answers we need anyway. It shouldn't be much of a mystery," he tried as a final effort.

"Then let's go take a look," Hattori returned immediately just as they came to the surveillance room. "The sooner this is sorted out, the better."

.

"This equipment looks pretty new," Shinichi muttered to Hattori as an officer searched back through the security footage.

"It is," another officer said, overhearing. "We just upgraded. …Minekawa-san actually oversaw the installation."

Hattori glanced over at him. "The victim?"

"There," Otaki said, watching the screen. "Go back a little an' let it run."

Everyone in the room drew in around the officer seated at the controls, eyes locked on the screen showing Minekawa sitting at the computer in the evidence room. As they watched, she seemed to grow restless. Her hand went to her head a few times but she always brought it back to the keys or the mouse again quickly. Her back was to the camera, her body blocking most of the computer screen, but gradually she began to sag in her chair until finally she folded forward over the keyboard, unconscious as far as anyone could tell, but there was still periodic movement in her back and shoulders as she continued breathing. It was the position she'd been found in and everyone in the surveillance room grew tense, waiting for the moment of the murder. After a few uneventful minutes crept by, Minekawa's body stilled.

"I guess we have a pretty exact time of death," the officer at the controls sighed, pausing the feed and eyeing the time stamp. "…It had ta be poison, right? Nobody touched her. No one was even around."

"It's pretty obvious she wasn't feeling well," Shinichi commented.

"So why didn't she try ta leave or get help?" Hattori added, continuing down Shinichi's train of thought. "Whatever she was doin', it seemed like she was determined to keep at it."

"Do we know what she was workin' on?" Otaki asked, looking around the room.

"We checked into it a little," one of the officers provided. "There was a ticket in for repair for that machine but it wasn't anything that urgent, especially since everyone was in training anyway."

Otaki nodded then turned back to the officer sitting at the surveillance controls. "Can ya advance it ta the point where Nozue-san found her?" he asked.

"Nozue-san?" Shinichi murmured to Hattori.

"She's an officer. Kinda mousy. I think she's got some ties to IT; musta been awful for her, findin' Minekawa-san like that."

Hattori's eyes were already locked on the screen again and Shinichi followed suit, watching as the stillness of the evidence room was broken. An officer with short dark hair tucked back behind her ears and glasses with thick black plastic frames walked in and headed toward Minekawa. The security feed had no sound, but they could see her lips moving. She looked confused as she stepped up behind Minekawa's chair and leaned over her, shaking her shoulder just a little. Then she paused, going still where she was bent over her, and a hand hesitantly moved to press against Minekawa's neck. Nozue staggered back a few steps and ran from the room, a hand clamped over her mouth and looking like she might have been crying. Otaki let out a sigh.

A moment later his cell phone rang and he answered it immediately. "This is Otaki." Everyone waited silently as he listened to the person on the other end. "You're sure?" he finally said. "All right. Thanks. Please send the official report over as soon as possible." He hung up and glanced around at everyone's expectant gazes. "…There was absolutely no sign of drugs or toxins in Minekawa-san's system," he informed them. "No physical trauma either, but she died of oxygen deprivation. She suffocated."

For a few moments, nobody moved, staring at Otaki.

"But…" one of the officers eventually said. "But _how_? As far as we can tell… she died in a perfectly normal, unlocked, unsealed room."

"She was definitely still breathin', even after she passed out," another added. "How could she have suffocated?"

"I don't know," Otaki murmured. "But we're gonna figure it out."

"Hey, take a look at this," Hattori said. He was leaning over the controls for the video feed and had run it back to the moment Nozue had approached Minekawa. He paused it and pointed. "Take a look at the computer screen."

Shinichi, Otaki, and a few others gathered closer around him and leaned in, squinting at the display. It was too small to make out what exactly was showing on Minekawa's monitor, but it was clear that a few windows were open.

"Now watch," Hattori said. He hit play and Nozue bent over Minekawa, blocking the screen from view. When she straightened again and ran from the room, a few of the windows were gone from the display.

"Kitase-san…" Otaki started. "Nozue-san didn't mention–?"

"No," Kitase said, and she sounded surprised. "When we questioned her, she didn't say anything about the computer or anything on the screen."

Otaki sighed, rubbing at his eyes with the fingers of one hand. "We need ta question her again," he said.

.

Otaki drew the line at allowing Shinichi and Hattori to participate in the questioning, but conceded to letting them take a look around the crime scene while he and Kitase spoke with Nozue again. But they still weren't allowed to actually touch anything.

"…Your dad holds a lot of sway here, huh," Shinichi muttered to Hattori as they paced the aisles of the evidence room under the watch of a few officers.

"Otaki-han doesn't wanna cross 'im and I don't blame 'im. But it's actually my old lady that's causin' the crackdown, y'know?" Shinichi gave him an inquisitive look and Hattori let out a sigh. "She really chewed Oyaji out for usin' me the way he did in that one case an' now _he_ doesn't wanna cross _her_ so he doesn't like me ta be involved at all.

"I really don't wanna leave Osaka but… it's hard ta imagine bein' an officer here anymore."

Shinichi watched him for a few moments longer out of the corner of his eye before coming to a stop in front of the computer where Minekawa had died. He crouched down, looking under the desk at the computer's tower which had been opened up to check for anything suspicious. It certainly appeared normal.

"…You shouldn't give up," Shinichi said, glancing up at the bottom of the desk as Hattori knelt to check the underside of the chair. "You won't have to work with your dad all the time, and you have a good relationship with the other officers here. Your mom can't get mad if you actually work here either. You should give it a try. You could always transfer to another division if it doesn't work out."

"I know that," Hattori sighed, standing again. Shinichi stood as well and they both seemed to head for the door at the same time, checking the jamb carefully for any sign that it might have been sealed or blocked and coming up with nothing.

"Anyway," Shinichi added, eyes scanning over the floor, a look of perturbed confusion creeping in on his face. "It's a little early to be worrying about it at this point, right? We've got to graduate before then, so just focus on that for now. You don't know what might change in the meantime. For now, the best thing we can do is solve this case… right?" Shinichi glanced over at Hattori again and Hattori smiled, just a little.

"Well, unless you saw somethin' here that I didn't, that's easier said than done, Kudou."

Shinichi gave him a weak smile in return. "No, not really," he admitted. "But I keep thinking about what you saw on the security feed." He wandered back over to the computer, which had been left on, still displaying the screen as it had been found after Minekawa died. "Minekawa-san was sitting down here for hours working on _something_ , and I don't think it was just a repair. And the change on the screen bothers me."

"You think Nozue-san did something?" Hattori asked.

Shinichi shook his head. "I don't know. Why would she? I mean, she _could_ have. We couldn't see the keyboard clearly when she was standing in front of it. But Minekawa-san was definitely already dead by that point. Where's the connection?"

"There might not be one," Hattori said, staring down at the keyboard. "Minekawa-san was lyin' on the keyboard when Nozue-san came in. The escape key mighta got hit when Nozue-san tried ta wake her." Shinichi nodded distantly and Hattori went on.

"Anyway, the real trick here is how Minekawa-san just up an' died. She was still breathin' in a room full of oxygen so how could she just… _die_?"

Shinichi closed his eyes, trying to think through a variety of possibilities. "There's really no sign of foul play–" he murmured, and even as he said it his thoughts ground to a halt and his eyes flew open, wide and unseeing as he stared at the floor.

 _Wait…_ _Isn't this… exactly what happened to Ito? He'd been found dead in his cell, no sign of an outside hand, and nothing suspicious in the autopsy, but… from what he said, it was like he'd planned it. Or at least saw it coming. But how could the autopsy reveal noth–_ A shiver ran through him as a sudden memory struck. It was blurred and dim but he remembered the blood in his eyes and the feeling of rough fingers pulling him up by his hair and a low, cold voice – _"This poison is untraceable in the body. It'll be an unsolvable murder."_

"Oi, Kudou, you okay?"

Shinichi blinked and looked up. Hattori was standing beside him, his hand clasped tight on Shinichi's shoulder, watching his face.

"Yeah," Shinichi said quickly. "Just… Do you remember that cold case I told you about?"

"That Organization case?" Hattori muttered, lowering his voice. Shinichi nodded.

"One of the Organization members died not long after he was arrested. It _looked_ like natural causes but something he said in the interrogation… I don't think it was a coincidence."

"You think it's related?" Hattori asked, his eyebrows pulling down over a slight grimace that displayed his skepticism.

Shinichi lowered his own voice even further. "The poison they used on me is supposed to be untraceable in autopsies," he said. "And Ito warned me to watch the police. He was crazy, so I didn't put too much stock in it, but after Yasuda – that guy who was posing as an inspector to get to KID… I should have taken it more seriously. There might be other Organization members hidden in the police force."

"…I don't know, Kudou. There's really no proof of that."

"There's no proof of _anything_ here," Shinichi said. "But Minekawa-san was working on something important down here while all of the officers were in training. Just give me a minute to check on something." He headed for the door again and Hattori trailed after him into the hallway.

"Wait a sec, where're ya goin'?" he called after him as Shinichi ran off down the hall.

"Just gotta make a call!"

.

Shinichi was heading for the shooting range, hoping for a safe, empty place to call Haibara, when an officer stopped him in the hall.

"Ah, Kudou-kun, have ya seen Otaki-keibu?"

"I think he and Kitase-san are still talking with Nozue-san."

The officer's eyes narrowed. "That's good. Thanks."

"Did you find something?" Shinichi asked quickly before the man could hurry away.

"Yeah," he said. "It's not much, but it's somethin'." He headed off before Shinichi could get any specifics and he stood in the hallway for a moment of deliberation before turning back the way he'd come and heading for the surveillance room. It was empty – the officer who'd stopped him in the hallway seemed to have left in a hurry, and the video of Minekawa and Nozue was paused on the screen at the moment where Nozue turned to run from the room. Shinichi sat at the controls and ran the video back. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he stopped at the point just before Nozue moved in front of the monitor to get another look at the windows on the display. He cycled those thirty seconds where the screen changed a few times over but nothing seemed to jump out at him until he tried to watch Nozue's hands instead. It was then that he spotted the little rectangle poking out from the side of the monitor… and when Nozue moved away, it was gone.

"What are you up to…" he murmured under his breath, but it was a mostly idle thought at that point. His mind was still half occupied with thoughts of the Organization and their untraceable poison and he sat back in the chair and pulled out his phone to call Haibara.

Before he could, he was stopped by a text waiting on his screen. It was from Kaito. _"Hey everybody still alive?"_

"Oh crap," he groaned, glancing at the time and wincing slightly. It had gotten pretty late, and the text had been sent almost an hour ago. He pushed out a resigned sigh and sent back: _"No. Hattori and I are ok. IT staff member murdered at HQ."_ Then he went immediately into his contacts and called Haibara. The sooner this got sorted out, the better.

"What trouble have you gotten into this time?" Haibara said without preamble when she answered the call.

"Maybe nothing," Shinichi said carefully. "But I need some information to be sure."

Haibara was quiet. The only information he'd be calling _her_ for was information on the Black Organization, and she knew it.

"Can you tell me what the autopsies looked like for victims of Apoptoxin 4869? What was the cause of death?"

There was another beat of silence before Haibara blandly recited, "Cause of death most frequently determined to be heart failure that appeared natural. Other symptoms include general tissue and cellular degradation of major organs as well, depending on how long it takes a given victim to actually die. The longer they hold on, the more damage is caused, but there would be no sign of what caused it. It would look unfortunate, but natural."

 _That sounds exactly right for Ito…_ Shinichi thought. _But…_

"So, there were no instances where the drug caused oxygen deprivation?"

Haibara let out a silent breath and her fingers relaxed their harsh grip on her phone. "No," she said. "Not for as long as I was working on it. But you have to remember, _you_ were the first human test subject. I don't have all that much to go on. Not firsthand anyway. But the flash drive you brought me seems to agree with those findings. Looks like, whatever you've gotten yourself into today, it's something different."

Shinichi pretended not to notice the relief under that conclusion. "Right…" he said. "Thanks, Haibara."

She hung up on him without another word and Shinichi blinked down at his phone for a moment before glancing up at the security screens again and hurrying from the room.

 _So much for that theory,_ he thought, his jaw set a little tighter. _Back to square one unless Otaki-keibu's gotten something from Nozue-san._

.

"I brought him in for questioning. He's upstairs with Ienaka-san," an officer was saying to Otaki and Hattori in the hallway outside the evidence room when Shinichi walked up.

"Is there a new suspect?" Shinichi asked, openly surprised.

The officer looked over at him and did a double-take, then stared at him for a few solid seconds before hurriedly answering, "Sorry, um, we're not sure. Some guy was nosing around outside the building so we brought him in but… you know, he looks a lot like you."

Shinichi blinked back at him for a moment in disbelief. Then Hattori was at his side.

"Kudou… Do ya think–?"

"Of _course_ it is," Shinichi sighed. "I'm sorry, officer. If his name's Kuroba Kaito he was probably just looking for me. You said he'd been taken in for questioning?"

"That's right," the officer answered. "But–"

"It's all right," Shinichi said. "He'll be fine there until we get this case solved. It'll keep him out of anymore trouble."

"Kudou, would ya com'ere a sec?" Hattori suddenly said, pulling him down the hallway a little. "Are ya sure about this?" he asked in a careful undertone, leaning in conspiratorially. "If there really are people from the Organization here like ya said, they'll be gunnin' for ya. They could use him as a hostage."

"Kaito as a hostage…?" Shinichi repeated. It took him a moment to get his brain around that, and when he did, he started laughing.

"Kudou–" Hattori said but Shinichi waved him off.

"Sorry, it's just… Kaito can take care of himself. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"…Against the Organization?" Hattori said, staring at Shinichi like he'd completely lost his mind. "Are ya crazy?"

"I should tell you about his dad sometime," Shinichi said. "Just trust me; Kaito can get out of anything. It'll be fine.

"Did you hear about the flash drive?" he asked.

"What?" Hattori said, feeling abruptly derailed. "Oh, the one they found on Nozue-san? They said it had been in the computer in the evidence room."

"Nozue-san had it?" Shinichi asked, his whole face brightening at the news. "Did they check what's on it yet?"

"They're checkin' it now–"

"Otaki-keibu!" An officer ran up, the flash drive in his hand and a grave expression on his face. "You need to see this." He took off down the hall again and Otaki followed, Shinichi and Hattori running after them without a moment's pause. There was a laptop set up in the surveillance room and the officer threw himself into the chair in front of it and inserted the flash drive, immediately pulling up the file list for its contents. Each file seemed to be named for a person, and there were two files for each name.

"What is this?" Otaki asked.

"Each of these names? They're all new hires or candidates in the final stages and these records are personnel files – everything that's checked and that goes on file when someone is hired. There're two sets for each name… and they don't match up. It looks like Minekawa-san was planting false information in our system."

Shinichi and Hattori traded glances behind Otaki's back.

"And Nozue-san took that from the computer…" Shinichi said.

"And prolly closed those windows on the screen after all. A cover up?"

"Maybe," the officer said. "But we checked over our records. The original information is all still there. Nothing's been tampered with."

"What about this extra file here?" Shinichi asked, leaning over to point at the screen.

"It's just a text file," the officer said, opening it. "A list of some of the other employees here. I can't think of anything that links them, but we're looking into it."

All four of them turned to the door when Kitase walked in. "I just spoke with Nozue-san again. She confessed ta stealing the drive as soon as we found it on her. An' ta closing' the windows on the screen. But she says she only did it ta protect Minekawa-san. That she was her best friend an' when she saw what she was doin' she took the flash drive 'cause Minekawa-san was dead an' she just didn't want her remembered poorly."

"So she obscured justice," Hattori said, crossing his arms, a scowl on his face.

"An' she admits ta that," Kitase sighed with a small shrug.

"I don't think we should be too quick to believe her story," Shinichi said. "If it were me, I'd want to try to prove that Minekawa-san was innocent, not assume she was guilty and try to cover it up. Unless Nozue-san knew about it already, or was somehow involved."

"Yeah, well not everybody's like you, Kudou," Hattori scoffed. "But you're right; for now, everythin's pretty circumstantial. An' none of it explains _how_ Minekawa-san died, though it might give us _why_. Stuff like this… She was prolly involved in some pretty shady operations." He glanced briefly at Shinichi again. He was staring hard at the list of employees with his hand at his chin.

"We can't even be sure she was murdered yet," Otaki pointed out. "We don't know what actually _caused_ her death."

"But we can start with what she was doing on that computer for so long before she died," Shinichi said. "Don't you think it's strange? She was down there for a while, but none of the edited files made it onto the system? She wouldn't risk doing the actual edits on a police computer. They should have been done and ready on the flash drive she brought with her. And why were both versions on the drive? She wouldn't need the original information in order to replace it, right?"

"You'd certainly think she'd be in a hurry ta get this done," Hattori agreed, shrugging a little. "Might've been her last chance in a while ta do it. Short of pullin' the fire alarm or somethin', she couldn't rely on that room bein' empty again until next year's trainin' day."

Shinichi's head came up and he stared at Hattori. "Pulling the…" He abruptly ran from the room, Kitase just barely making it out of the doorway to let him through.

"Oi, Kudou!" Hattori called, dashing out after him. Otaki and the others let them go.

.

Hattori caught up with Shinichi and paused to catch his breath at the doorway of the evidence room. Shinichi was standing in the middle of an aisle, staring up at the ceiling. "Kudou," Hattori said. "What's the deal?"

"This room has its own fire suppression system, doesn't it?" he said. Hattori glanced up at the nozzles in the ceiling. "Probably a gas system. Because normal fire sprinklers could damage evidence."

"I guess so… So then…"

Shinichi's gaze came down from the ceiling and he glanced over at Hattori. "It was probably tampered with. There should be an adjoined room where the gas tanks are kept. Probably anybody with a maintenance key could get in there."

"We can get somebody in ta check it," Hattori said. "…Ya still thinkin' Nozue-san?"

"Yeah. You mentioned she had ties with IT. Do you think she would have the knowledge to tamper with a system like that?"

"Could be, since they're used for computer and server rooms a lot. But that's not much of a connection, Kudou. We need proof."

"I have an idea about that, but let's tell Otaki-keibu so we can confirm that it was even tampered with."

.

Hattori had been surprised when Shinichi declined to join them in inspecting the fire suppression system.

"If it's proof we want, that's where it'll prolly be, right?" he'd said, but Shinichi had only answered with a grin, "You can be my eyes in there, right? There's something else I wanna check on."

Shinichi then slipped away and returned to the surveillance room. An officer was there, sitting at the controls. "Excuse me," Shinichi said, walking inside. "Could I take a look at the footage from today again?"

"Sure," she said, turning to the controls. "What did you need to see?"

Shinichi came to stand at her shoulder. "Could you take this camera view back to maybe fifteen minutes before Minekawa-san passed out?" he asked, pointing to the screen that showed the evidence room. It took some back and forth, but Shinichi eventually found the spot he was looking for and asked her to pause it. "Okay," he said. "Now, which one of these shows the training room?"

"The training room?" the officer said, but she was already pointing to a screen with several miniaturized views of a large room.

"Yeah; could you run it back to a little before this time?" He pointed to the timestamp in the corner of the paused evidence room screen and the officer systematically pulled each view of the room back.

"These are pretty small," she said as she worked. "Which view do you want; I can make it bigger."

"Not sure yet," Shinichi muttered watching the screens. Once they were all set back to the time he'd asked, he scrutinized each view then pointed. "This one should do it." The officer enlarged the view. "Okay… Let it run."

In the bottom corner of the screen, Nozue was sitting with her cheek resting on the heel of one hand, her posture radiating boredom as her fingers fiddled around with her hair. He let the recording run for another few minutes. Nothing much changed, but Shinichi nodded a little and thanked the officer before heading out in something of a rush.

.

"Yes, I recommended we have some maintenance done on the fire suppression system. It was old; it needed an upgrade. What does this have to do with Haruki's death?" Nozue fidgeted in her seat across the table from Otaki and Hattori in the otherwise empty interrogation room. Every now and then her eyes would go to the door, or the mirrored window, or the security camera in the ceiling, but mostly she met their gazes.

"It was installed incorrectly," Otaki said, and it wasn't entirely a lie, but it wasn't what he or Hattori was really thinking – it sounded far too unintentional for that.

"Is… Is that why…?"

"The system is meant ta quickly fill the room with a heavy gas that pushes out the oxygen ta smother any fires," Hattori explained. "It's loud an' noticeable an' no one in their right mind would stick around when that started up. Even if they did, it doesn't take long ta smother a fire that way. A proper system would shut off an' the room would clear before anyone would suffocate. But _this_ system was rigged ta release a larger amount of gas an' slowly fill the room for long enough to kill Minekawa-san. Now how do ya think _that_ happened?"

"Do ya know anything about it, Nozue-san?" Otaki asked.

Nozue blinked back at him through her large lenses. Then, abruptly, she gasped out, " _I_ didn't install it! All I did was call the company!"

"But why you?" Hattori said. "You're an officer. An' this isn't even an IT thing; it's building maintenance, right?"

"I know a guy, that's all," Nozue said, leaning forward a little over the table. "You get better service from these people when they actually know you, you know? Facilities asked me to help them out. _That's all_."

"We understand, Nozue-san," Otaki said. "We just need ta confirm all the facts. Now, Kitase-san told us ya confessed ta stealin' a flash drive from Minekawa-san's computer an' closin' the windows on the screen. Why did ya do it?"

"I told her already; I didn't think it would matter. Haruki's dead."

"She's dead, so ya had ta abort the plan?" Hattori asked.

Nozue blinked back at him. "Plan…?"

"We looked inta what Minekawa-san was doin'. The access information she needed woulda had ta be stolen at some point for her ta get inta the personnel files. Ya coulda done that while she was upgradin' the security cameras, right?"

"This… This is ridiculous!" Nozue said on a laugh. "What access information? Is this really how we conduct investigations now, Otaki-keibu? Coming up with stories based on random coincidence or less? Speculation?"

The door in the corner of the room opened and Shinichi stepped inside, closing it softly behind him. "Everything starts with speculation, Nozue-san," he said, taking the empty seat next to Hattori. "And that _was_ your plan, wasn't it. Yours and Minekawa-san's."

"Oh, this should be good," Nozue muttered, leaning back against her chair, her shoulders sagging in surrender.

"The plan," Hattori insisted, "was for Minekawa-san ta take out the cameras under the guise of an upgrade so that you could move more freely ta steal the access information. But ya took the opportunity ta have some partners of yours tamper with the fire suppression system at the same time. Then, when Minekawa-san went ta actually put that information ta use while everybody was in trainin', ya waited until a little before the time ya told her it had ta be done by an' triggered the modified fire suppression system."

"Why would I want to kill Haruki? Especially if we were partners in some kind of sabotage like you're suggesting?"

"Because she was a spy," Shinichi said bluntly. "Minekawa Haruki-san was a double agent working for Interpol, and your organization found her out and told you to get rid of her."

"Whoa, what?" Hattori said, rounding on Shinichi.

"Minekawa-san was probably planning to go along with everything the Black Organization told the two of you to do until it got dire," he explained. He was looking at Nozue, but he saw out of the corner of his eye Otaki turn slightly startled eyes onto Nozue as well, as if he'd be able to see something he'd missed that could identify her as a member of that far-reaching crime syndicate. "Those edits to the personnel files were meant to help sneak Organization members into the police force. It would have put a lot of people in a lot of danger," Shinichi continued. "So she wasn't going to go through with it. What she was actually doing when you killed her was checking the system for any other suspicious employees here beside the new hires the Organization was trying to sneak in. Anyone who slipped in the same way _you_ did when you were hired here, Nozue-san. If you hadn't killed her, she would have been gone by the time training let out. She would have taken the flash drive with the names of every suspicious new hire and employee to her contact in Interpol and shut your whole plan down."

For a few seconds, everyone was silent, the three detectives watching Nozue carefully, but her eyes were distant, angled off to the side a little as she thought about everything Shinichi had lain out.

"So," she said slowly after a little while. "Your proof here… is that _no_ information was tampered with in the personnel files of the new hires? What the hell kind of nonsense is that?"

Shinichi could feel Hattori's and Otaki's eyes on him again though they stayed silent. "But I do have proof," Shinichi said, leaning his forearms on the table. "Or should I say _you_ do, Nozue-san."

"In case you forgot, Kitase-san already searched me, and I already told you why I took that flash drive. I don't have anything."

"You're nearsighted, right Nozue-san?" Shinichi went on, mostly ignoring her protests.

"Yes, I am," she snapped at him. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Could I see your glasses?" he asked. "It will only take a second. Though I guess I can't guarantee we'll be able to give them back if my theory is correct."

"…This is ridiculous. Why should I have to–?"

"Nozue-san," Otaki said. "Please just cooperate. Unless there's some reason ya don't want Kudou-kun ta take a look at those glasses. We can always get a warrant instead when we get the official confirmation from Interpol about Minekawa-san."

Nozue hesitated, staring across the table at them, unmoving. Then she shrugged and reached up to remove her glasses. Taken in by the motion, the three detectives didn't react quickly enough when she suddenly vanished under the table instead, knocking her chair back in the process, and dove at Otaki's waist. There was a jumble of limbs and shouts and overturned chairs, and Shinichi had just a moment to hope that Otaki hadn't gone back to the range for his gun yet – that the holster would be empty. Then a shot went off.

Hattori had been attempting to grab Nozue off from on top of Otaki when the bullet caught him in the shoulder, and he fell back with a pained shout. Otaki got a hold of Nozue's wrists, though a moment too late, and she couldn't pull free of his grip. She still had the gun in her hand, her finger on the trigger, but she couldn't move to aim it and Otaki held fast with the gun directed at the wall. Then her struggling suddenly stopped and she collapsed on top of Otaki, dropping the gun to the floor. Shinichi let out a breath and lowered his watch.

"Heiji!" Otaki shoved Nozue off of him and grabbed the gun, reengaging the safety and jamming it back into his holster as he and Shinichi rushed to Hattori's side, but he was already sitting up on his own, squeezing his left shoulder.

"Dammit Kudou, _every time!_ " Hattori bit out. "I always get shot when you're around, ya ever notice that? Geez!"

"Not _every_ time," Shinichi skirted as Kitase and another officer ran into the interrogation room.

"Is everyone okay?" Kitase asked, staying in front of the door while the other officer went to Nozue to make sure she was really unconscious and lock handcuffs onto her wrists. Hattori just let out an exasperated groan and laid back down.

"Sit up, idiot," Shinichi said immediately. "You need to keep the wound elevated. Did the bullet go through?"

Hattori sat up again with a grimace. "I'm not sure," he answered, but Shinichi was already moving around to kneel behind him, his hand on Hattori's back to support him as he checked his shoulder.

"Looks like it did," he said.

"We need ta get ya to the hospital," Otaki said. "And we'll need your statement before ya go back ta Tokyo, Kudou-kun," he added. "Sorry."

"Don't sweat it," Hattori said to Shinichi as he struggled to get to his feet. Shinichi stood and offered his hand to help and Hattori took it. "You guys can stay at my place tonight. I'll hafta come back in ta give a statement tomorrow anyway. We can get that taken care of, then maybe show Kuroba around Osaka like we were supposed ta, right?"

"I don't remember that being the plan exactly," Shinichi said with a smirk. He moved over to where Nozue was still lying on the floor and knelt to remove her glasses. "He _has_ been here before you know."

"But it's not the same as gettin' the grand tour from a native Osakan," Hattori corrected.

"Yeah sure." He turned the glasses over in his hands, fingers light along the thick frames. "Here," he said, standing and handing them over to one of the officers. "There's a little switch built into the back of the earpiece here. I'm pretty sure it's what she used to trigger the fire suppression system. You can see her messing with it in the security footage of the training room a little before Minekawa-san died."

"Er, thanks," the officer said, taking the glasses.

Shinichi turned back to Hattori. "Let's get you to the hospital before you bleed to death, okay?" he said. "And actually, I think they're still holding Kaito in one of the interrogation rooms," he muttered.

"Better go get 'im out then," Hattori said. "Meet ya at the hospital?"

"As usual," Shinichi sighed, rolling his eyes, and Hattori grinned.

"Come on, Hei-chan," Otaki said. "I'll take ya."

.

Kaito looked up when the door to the small, bare room opened, and he heard a voice in the hallway say, "Thanks for your help today, Kudou-kun. I'll check in with those contacts ya gave me." Footsteps receded down the hall and Shinichi stepped into the room.

"Hey Kai–"

"Shinichi!" Kaito exclaimed, surging to his feet and around the table. "Geez, _finally._ What–?" he cut off abruptly as he spotted the traces of blood Shinichi hadn't been able to clean from the edge of his shirt sleeve from when he'd been helping Hattori. "What happened…?" Kaito asked cautiously.

"Everyone's okay," Shinichi said, handing Kaito his phone that the police had taken from him as a precaution when he'd been brought in as a murder suspect. "Well… not _everyone._ There was an undercover officer here. She was killed by an Organization member. Hattori's been shot but it's just his shoulder. Otaki-keibu took him to the hospital; we're supposed to meet him there."

"The Organization?" Kaito said, his voice lowering instinctively. "Here?"

Shinichi nodded. "And it's worse than just that, but for now we should probably just get out of here as fast as possible. Come on, I'll fill you in on the way."

.

Osaka still felt busy even in the middle of the night as Shinichi, Kaito, and Hattori walked from the hospital to an all-night noodle shop that Hattori swore had the best imagawayaki in dozens of flavors. Without much effort, he had Kaito sold on the idea and, outnumbered, had silenced Shinichi's protests that it was late, had been a long day, and Hattori had been _shot_ so shouldn't they head back to his house now…? But it was eerie how well Kaito and Hattori suddenly got along when united under the common goal of "get Shinichi to go out and do things."

It was warm in the shop and Shinichi leaned against Kaito a little where they sat across from Hattori in a small booth, a plate piled high with every flavor of imagawayaki the shop had to offer on the table in front of them.

"So, let me see if I've got all this," Kaito murmured under the low buzzing of the hanging lights and quiet conversations of the few other patrons and the workers in the kitchen. "This Nozue woman is an Organization member who's been working as an officer here without anyone knowing. And Minekawa-san was an officer working with Interpol, undercover as an Organization member undercover as an IT employee for the police."

"Yep," Hattori said, blowing on the steaming bowl of noodles in front of him. Ignoring the fact that his left arm was in a sling, he snapped apart a pair of chopsticks, wincing a little at the movement.

"And they found out Minekawa-san was a spy, so the Organization had Nozue kill her," Kaito continued.

"Yeah," Shinichi sighed. He sipped a little at the straw in his iced coffee.

"Okay then I just have one question," Kaito said, brandishing one of the small cakes from the plate. "Why the hell did the Organization think it was a good idea to kill Minekawa-san _in the middle of their other plot_? If it were me, I wouldn't want to mess up a plan like that by throwing a murder into the works."

"If it were you, huh?" Shinichi scoffed, but Kaito waved him off.

"I mean, it was complicated enough already with them having to take out the security cameras without drawing suspicion, and get the access information, and then swap in the fake personnel information seamlessly enough for it to pass as legitimate long-term. It's a lot to juggle, especially at police headquarters. A murder right in the center of the whole thing? It's no wonder they got caught." He took a bite of the cake and brightened instantly. "Wow, these _are_ really good!"

Shinichi decided to pass on addressing the somewhat bewildered, somewhat analyzing look Kaito was ignoring from Hattori and said instead, "I don't think they had much of a choice. The plan was important to them and Minekawa-san was a necessary part of it. They must have found out she was a spy when they were already in too deep to back out, so they went ahead with the whole thing, hoping she would decide that keeping her cover was more important than stopping that plan, but would also have needed to kill her as soon as possible just in case she decided differently."

"It was a gamble an' they lost," Hattori concluded.

"But Minekawa-san is dead, so it's not like we won either," Kaito pointed out.

"Still, because Minekawa-san was there, the Organization wasn't able to infiltrate the Osaka PD to the extent they'd been attempting, and now the word is out for departments across the country to check into their staff and officers. We'll be able to weed them out. She helped save a lot of lives."

"Hear, hear," Kaito said somewhat solemnly.

The three were quiet for a short while and Kaito's hand moved to take Shinichi's under the table, their fingers tightening around each other for just a moment, their thoughts on the task force and Division One, and the danger those officers could have been in if the plan hadn't been discovered.

"Oi, Kudou," Hattori eventually said. "How _did_ ya find out Minekawa-san was a spy?"

"I thought it was weird that she was at that computer for so long and was so intent on what she was doing when nothing in the system had been changed," he said. "But I thought it might have made sense if she wasn't actually _trying_ to go through with the plan. Then there was the list of names, you know? I've been in touch with some of my dad's contacts in Interpol and the FBI and managed to make a few connections of my own, so I called around to confirm it, that's all."

"I still can't believe how unlucky the two of you are," Kaito put in, starting in on the imagawayaki again. "I thought for sure this time there'd be no murders. I mean, you were at _police headquarters_. Seriously, what are the odds?"

"When Kudou's around? Pretty good," Hattori said. "He's got the worst luck I've ever seen."

"I'm not the one who got shot," Shinichi returned quickly.

"Yeah, but it's lucky it was my _left_ side, wasn't it." He clicked his chopsticks at Shinichi with his right hand before going back to his bowl of noodles with renewed enthusiasm. "Anyway, enough of all the case talk. Kuroba, Kudou said you're a magician?"

"That I am," Kaito answered, and a yellow rose appeared between his fingers, held out across the table to Hattori.

"Uh…" Hattori murmured, looking very suddenly flustered, his eyes flicking between Shinichi, Kaito, and the rose like he thought it was a trap.

"Don't think too much of it," Shinichi advised. "He does it to practically everyone."

Kaito was still holding out the rose, grinning at Hattori and egging him on to take it with the twitch of his eyebrows and the tilt of his head.

"O…kay," Hattori said, and he carefully took the rose. Kaito's smile instantly brightened and he winked at Hattori, making him blush dark red while Shinichi just shook his head and rolled his eyes. Kaito instantly locked on to him instead and offered him a rose as well, this one a rich crimson. Shinichi sighed but took it, trying not to blush as he felt Hattori watching them with wide eyes.

"S-So," Hattori said, focusing again on his bowl of noodles as Kaito plucked another cake from the plate. "What other sort of tricks can ya do? Do ya specialize in anythin'?" he asked.

"Mm, not really," Kaito answered. "I do all sorts of stuff. Card tricks, illusions–"

"Escapes," Shinichi muttered, his elbow resting on the table and his cheek resting on the heel of his hand.

"Escapes?" Hattori repeated. "Oh, is that why ya said he could get outta anything, Kudou?" He looked again to Kaito. "Is your dad an escape artist too?"

Shinichi tensed just a little, unsure of how Kaito would take the subject change, but Kaito's smile turned mischievous and he glanced sidelong at Shinichi. "Hmm? Talking about me again, huh?" he said suggestively. Then to Hattori he added with a grin, "Yeah, my dad was Kuroba Toichi. He was pretty famous; you might have heard of him."

Hattori didn't miss the "was" and he stammered back, "Er, yeah actually, I have. Um, sorry–"

"It's okay," Kaito said, still with a carefree smile. He shrugged a little. "It was a long time ago."

Hattori seemed relieved and Shinichi could almost believe it himself – the illusion of the well-adjusted son whose father had died in an accident twelve years ago. But he knew better, though he also knew that that illusion bothered _him_ a lot more than it ever did Kaito.

"Hey, we _are_ heading back to your place after this, right?" Shinichi asked, rubbing at his forehead a little and pulling his coffee closer.

"You know, you probably wouldn't be so tired if you'd have something to eat," Kaito pointed out, nudging the plate of imagawayaki toward him. Shinichi took one, mostly as a preemptive measure.

"Yeah, but ya got a point though," Hattori finally admitted. "I guess it would be better ta get some rest now an' start fresh tomorrow mornin'. Hey, where are ya from anyway?" he asked Kaito.

"I grew up in Ekoda, but I live in Beika now."

"Another Tokyo guy, huh? Then ya got a lot ta learn about the best city in Japan. Did ya know we've got the tallest building in the country right here? We should go check it out tomorrow; they just finished it earlier this year."

"Bell Tree in Tokyo is taller," Shinichi muttered.

"Shut up, I said the tallest _building._ That doesn't count."

"Abeno Harukas, right?" Kaito asked, laughing, and Shinichi's eyes flashed toward him, all too familiar with the scheming edge to his smile. "Sounds great. I can't wait to see it!"

Hattori grinned back at him. "See Kudou? That's the kind of enthusiasm a great city like Osaka deserves. Come on, let's head back. We should get an early start tomorrow, right? Gimme just a sec; I'll be right back."

He got up and headed back toward the bathrooms and Shinichi cast a suspicious glance over at Kaito. "You know, you shouldn't encourage him," he said.

"I don't know what you mean," Kaito laughed, finishing off the last of the imagawayaki and licking the crumbs from his fingers with the tip of his tongue.

"Did you go to that skyscraper today before you got taken into custody?" Shinichi asked.

"Hey, about that," Kaito said, abruptly (and conveniently) changing the subject. "They were holding me as a suspect in the murder case _you_ were working on… Why didn't you come to get me out?"

"Uh…"

"Shinichi…" Kaito said, warning in his tone. He turned in the booth seat and leaned in, cornering him, and said in a careful undertone, "You don't just leave a phantom thief stuck in police custody like that."

"You weren't _stuck_ –" Shinichi tried but Kaito cut him off.

"They brought me in as Kuroba Kaito; I couldn't just pull a disappearing act. And I was _worried_ about you, you know? You better make this up to me, Tantei-kun."

Kaito was meeting Shinichi's eyes steadily, his face perfectly unreadable, and Shinichi was agreeing before he even knew exactly what Kaito meant. "R-Right," he said, and Kaito leaned back again with a satisfied smile.

"Good. Now let's get Hattori home. I swear, you detectives have no common sense when it comes to your own health."

"Not one to talk, Kaito," Shinichi said, following him out of the booth as Hattori came back from the bathroom.

"Maybe not," Kaito said with a shrug and a smile, and the three headed back out into the city to make their way back to the Hattori household.


	24. Chapter 24

If any of you visited this chapter earlier and Shinichi's name was replaced with the letter "I", the problem has been fixed thanks to MentallyConfused who left a review alerting me to the issue. I really appreciate it. Now, please enjoy while I go try to stop being as pissed as I am that this happened AGAIN.

.

 **Case 24 – Best Laid Plans**

.

" _It was him, Vodka. It was that Kudou Shinichi. Let me talk to Gin."_

" _Aniki's busy. An' anyways, you know what he'll say. That person's not happy with how this is turnin' out, so you just stick to the job Aniki gave you."_

" _Vodka–"_

" _Don't worry. I remember that Kudou Shinichi. He tried to start some trouble with us a few years back. I'll make sure Aniki knows he's still alive. But for now, things need to quiet down."_

.

It was the panic in Kaito's voice that really did it.

Shinichi had been sound asleep in his bed when Kaito uttered his name in something of a sharp, horrified gasp, shoving him awake without taking his eyes from the phone in his other hand.

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" Shinichi scrambled to sit up, his heart shooting into double-time as he grabbed at Kaito's arm and scanned the dark room. Nothing seemed out of place. Eyebrows pulling down in concern, he turned his attention more fully to Kaito who was still intent on his phone screen.

"Shinichi," Kaito said again, sounding unusually serious though he still did not look over at him. "Sonoko just told me Hakuba has a crush on KID."

It took Shinichi a full ten seconds to process what was actually happening. Then he turned away from Kaito and dropped his face onto the pillows with a muffled groan.

"Shinichi," Kaito repeated, finally tearing his eyes from the text conversation to shake his partner's shoulder. "Shinichi! That means _Hakuba_ has a crush on _me._ Shinichi are you hearing this?! You have to protect me!"

"Hakuba does not have a crush on you," Shinichi mumbled. "Go to sleep."

"That's what you said about Hattori and _you_ but–!"

"Why are you listening to _Sonoko_?" Shinichi said, cutting him off. "Let _me_ go to sleep."

"No, but Shinichi–"

"Hey, Kaito," Shinichi propped himself up again and glanced over at him. "Remember how we were talking about those Tiffany lamps earlier?"

"Uh, yeah…?" Kaito replied slowly, and it was obvious from his tone that he was less than pleased with the random subject change. "And I looked 'em up. They're just stained glass; were you trying to set me up or what?" He shut off his phone screen and folded his arms, leaning back against the headboard and looking fairly put out.

"…No, setting you up would be when I sent out that fake heist notice saying you were gonna steal the lamps from that department store display," Shinichi murmured, settling his face against his pillow again and closing his eyes.

"…You _what_?"

"If you hurry you might be able to steal the notice back before anyone sees it," Shinichi suggested.

Kaito was already out of bed and dressed. "Where'd you send it?" he insisted.

"I don't remember," Shinichi replied, eyes closed but grinning viciously. "Guess you'll have to play detective and figure it out." He pulled the blanket up over his head.

"Tch." Kaito turned away and vanished, and once he was gone Shinichi tugged the blanket down again and glanced at the watch he'd left on his wrist. He stared at it, calculating, then set an alarm and ducked under his blanket again and closed his eyes.

.

Kaito searched all night but didn't find anything at the department store, or the police station, or the local paper or news stations. It was morning by the time he got back to the Kudou manor, and he picked the lock on the front door instead of his usual window of preference in Shinichi's bedroom just so he could slam it behind him as he stormed in in a huff. Shinichi was already awake and dressed, watching the news on the couch in the sitting room with a mug of coffee. Kaito waited in the doorway with his arms crossed but Shinichi didn't acknowledge him.

"Hey," Kaito finally said. "Were you just screwing with me or what? You didn't actually send a notice, did you."

"Mm, nope," Shinichi agreed. "Not until a little while ago anyway." He picked up the remote to turn up the volume on the TV where a reporter was announcing the heist notice displayed in the corner of the screen. Kaito ran into the room and stared.

"Th-That's for _tonight_ ," he said, paling. He rounded on the detective. "Shinichi, what the hell! You _know_ I have to follow up on this now. People are gonna think I actually sent that!"

"Of course they will," Shinichi replied calmly. "I never miss the little details. That notice is as good as genuine."

Kaito opened his mouth, closed it, then turned away. "I guess I'll see you tonight then," he bit out, and he stormed out of the house, slamming the door again behind him. _I can't believe he did this_ today.

Shinichi's grip on his mug tensed for a few moments before he carefully set it down on the coffee table and clicked off the TV. Pulling out his phone, he got up and went to grab his jacket as he tapped in a number.

.

KID rocked back on his heels, enjoying his front row seat to the media scramble and rallying of the task force just outside the department store where his next heist was to take place (like it or not). He was disguised as a nondescript young man – just another face in the crowd of cheering KID fans that had gathered in the street in a tight half circle around the first floor display window, straining the efforts of the officers minding the barricade that held them back. And, as annoyed as he was with Shinichi for sending out a fake notice, the chaos and energy of the last minute heist was invigorating. And he wanted more.

A sharp grin stretched the mask over KID's face for just an instant before a cloud of smoke erupted around him and the nondescript random fan in the crowd vanished.

For just a beat, those who'd been standing close around him fell silent in startled shock. Then they exploded into thrilled screams and Kaitou KID appeared, balanced easily on a second-story ledge of the department store building. Immediately the task force and even the media team the store had hired had spotlights trained on him, and he tipped his hat slightly in their direction, shark's grin gleaming.

"I see you've brought quite a lot of light with you tonight," he called down to them, eyes picking over the many upturned faces. He hadn't actually seen Shinichi yet – not even inside the store when he was setting up. He wasn't entirely sure how he should feel about that, but that back corner of his mind that was usually occupied with thoughts of Shinichi was currently balanced somewhere between pissed off and worried, though neither feeling was strong enough to distract him from the show. "I think it detracts from this beautiful display, don't you~?" KID said, gesturing to the window below him. He pulled out the card gun and aimed down into one of the spotlights on the ground, closing his left eye and relying on the treated glass of his monocle to allow him to see well enough for an accurate shot. The metal ace struck the bulb and it burst with a delicate pop. The whole street went abruptly dark.

KID slipped through the unlocked window behind him, grinning wildly. Already he had swapped the suit for black clothes and managed to sneak clean through the small group of task force officers who had been on their way up to the second floor to grab KID from the ledge. Then he bypassed the first floor entirely and headed for the basement.

.

Shinichi made it into the department store just as the power was restored, illuminating a perfectly empty display window, on the other side of which KID fans were cheering loudly for the apparent success of the lamp heist.

"You are late, Kudou-kun," Hakuba observed as Shinichi bent forward to catch his breath. "The time given in the notice was one minute, fifty-six seconds, and–"

"I know," Shinichi bit out. He straightened up, collecting himself again. "It was pretty quick then I guess," he said, watching Nakamori stalk toward the empty display case. "Any thoughts on how he did it?" He waited while Hakuba scrutinized him but eventually gave up. "Here," he said. "Allow me." He pinched his own face and pulled hard enough to leave a faint red mark, then rubbed at his cheek. "I'm not KID," he said. "…So?"

Hakuba still seemed fairly on guard, but he finally answered, "I have a few ideas. There was a somewhat distant humming and a slight vibration through the floor while the lights were out. It stopped just before the power returned to the street."

"Hm."

They both moved over to the display where Nakamori was scrutinizing the edges of the window and carefully passing his hands through the empty air as if the eleven missing lamps might still be there somehow, just invisible. Their shoes slapped loudly on the floor as they neared the display and Shinichi and Hakuba shared a glance before eyeing the thin covering of water on the tiles.

"It doesn't make sense," Nakamori was muttering as they came up next to him. "There's no way he could move so many so quickly." Then he looked up at the ceiling of the display and let out a loud "Ah _ha_!" that made Shinichi jump. "I've figured out your trick, KID!" the inspector called out. "You just pulled them all up into the ceiling!" He climbed into the display and reached up for one of the eleven panels in the ceiling that looked to Shinichi to be just a little too obvious. He took a step back.

The moment Nakamori pushed at the panel, all eleven opened up and streamers and confetti rained down, accompanied by the loud pop of firecrackers. Then a large golden ball descended and cracked open, dropping a vertical banner that read, "The Festive Inspector! On Display Tonight Only!"

Nakamori stood still, blinking blankly with streamers draped over his shoulders and confetti in his hair. Then the camera flashes started from the other side of the window. "…KID!" Nakamori roared, his face red. He tried to turn to jump down from the window and almost fell over when his shoes refused to part with the floor of the display. "What–? I can't–! Aagh!" he rumbled, tugging uselessly at his trapped feet.

Hakuba picked up a small piece of the shimmering confetti. "The floor does not appear to be sticky," he observed, running his fingers lightly over the surface. They came away coated with a very fine dust and he rubbed them together experimentally. Almost immediately the powder began to melt and adhere to his skin. He pulled out a handkerchief and quickly wiped it away. "I believe this is methacrylate – or something close to it," Hakuba said.

"Flash frozen and powdered," Shinichi ventured, eying the faint tendrils of steam around the soles of Nakamori's shoes. "It reacted with the water on the bottom of your shoes, Inspector."

Nakamori just let out another grumble and pulled his feet free of the shoes, hopping down to avoid touching any part of the display floor. Shinichi and Hakuba both immediately moved to help steady him so he wouldn't slip on the wet tiles.

"All right, I want every inch of this place searched!" Nakamori shouted to the various assembled task force officers. "You don't just pick up eleven glass lamps and walk off. They've got to still be here somewhere. Let's go!" He stalked off in his damp socks as the task force scattered to cover the building but Shinichi turned his focus back to the display, his hand moving to his chin as he considered the floor.

"Nakamori-keibu is right," Shinichi muttered. "To move all eleven that quickly, he'd have to do it all at once. The humming… and the vibration in the floor…"

"Kudou-kun, there is an underground parking garage below this floor," Hakuba said urgently.

Shinichi's eyes widened. "He lowered the whole floor of the display down into the basement," he said in wonder.

"And raised up a replacement," Hakuba agreed.

 _How did he manage to set all this up in one day?!_

"We need to block off the exits of that garage," Hakuba said. "It has not been long; we might still catch him."

He ran off to recruit the task force to his cause but Shinichi ran for the stairs and down into the quiet parking garage instead, navigating around the support pillars until he found the approximate spot that would be below the first floor display case. A large van was parked nearby, the back doors standing open, and he could see a large flat rectangle covered with a tarp already loaded beside six large boxes. A young man wearing the uniform of the department store was loading another, and four more sat on the ground beside the van. All eleven were the correct approximate sizes for the missing lamps.

Hands in his pockets, Shinichi walked up to the worker who continued to load the boxes, paying him no mind at all. "A bit obvious, don't you think, KID?" he said, stopping a careful distance from the man. The worker slid the last box into place in the van and closed the doors. Then he turned toward Shinichi, a sharp grin stretched across his face.

"You're late to your own heist, Tantei-kun," KID said. "What, did you trip over another murder on your way here?"

"I may have sent the notice," Shinichi replied, ignoring the jab. "But it's still your heist, KID."

"You're damn right," Kaito shot back, a real scowl on his face. Shinichi blinked, taken aback, and ignored the faint impulse to retreat. But then KID sighed, closing his eyes for a second, and when he looked at Shinichi again the mischief had returned to his face. "Although…" he drawled, his hand coming up to cover his mouth as he considered Shinichi. A sudden grin lit up his features, obvious even behind his hand, and he snapped his fingers.

This time Shinichi allowed his instincts to take over and he turned to run but collided quite solidly with KID's chest. Already, a smoke screen was surrounding them, confusing his senses, and he felt himself spun around. The next thing he knew, KID was standing across from him again wearing Shinichi's clothes, his hair smoothed into Shinichi's distinctive style making him nearly identical but for the wicked grin across his face.

"What–?" Shinichi muttered, but he was distracted by something resting against his eye. He reached up to touch the monocle and felt the color drain from his face as he looked down at himself. As he had feared, he was dressed in the distinctive white suit of the Kaitou KID – cape and all – and he reached up to confirm the silk hat resting atop his mussed hair. "What the hell?" he said, his voice cracking a little.

"This should be fun," KID said, his voice already settled into Shinichi's speech patterns. "I think you told me to go 'play detective.' I guess since you were so set on playing the thief this morning, I'll do just that." He waved cheerily at Shinichi and vanished in a puff of dark purple smoke even as Shinichi choked out, "No, wait, KID–!" He was left staring at the van, frozen by a flicker of panic, wondering if Kaito actually expected him to play the role of KID and escape with the lamps. The thought blinked out almost as quickly, dismissed as nonsense. He was a detective, not a thief, and that wasn't ever going to change. Kaito knew that.

A few seconds later he heard the clamber of the task force converging on the underground garage and a whole new reason for panic seized him. He whipped around toward the stairwell, not sure if he should be running or standing his ground – _I'm innocent, dammit, why should I run?_ – but then the rumble of an engine turning over echoed through the garage and Shinichi turned again with wide eyes to see the van driving off.

"There he is!"

Shinichi flinched at the sound of his own voice from over by the stairwell and turned, cringing slightly, to see KID, still disguised as him, leading up a large group of officers as they rushed into the parking garage.

"KID!" the fake detective shouted accusingly.

"Oh you _bastard,_ " Shinichi muttered through gritted teeth. Already the task force was rushing past Kaito and toward Shinichi, their echoing shouts drowning out his attempts to explain. He gave up and turned to run but didn't make it two steps before a pile of officers came down on him, tackling him to the pavement and knocking the wind out of him. They dragged him to his feet as he fought to get his lungs in proper working order again, and cuffed his wrists behind his back, two officers still clutching each of his arms tight as Nakamori strutted up from the midst of them in his socks and leaned forward to sneer in Shinichi's face. Behind him, Shinichi could see KID watching, unable to hold back his laughter with a gleeful expression that was a little odd for Shinichi to see on what was meant to be his own face.

"We've finally got you KID!" Nakamori proclaimed. He reached out and snatched the hat and monocle off of Shinichi and tossed them aside. He and all of the officers standing in the tight circle around the captured detective went a little still and quiet.

"…Kaito-kun?"

Hakuba was squeezing his way through the crowd and finally emerged in the center where Shinichi was being held. He also stopped and stared. "…Are you serious?" he managed, stunned. "Just like that? We have him?"

All at once, several fingers reached out to pinch at Shinichi's face, tugging this way and that to see if he was wearing a mask.

"Agh! No! Ish Kudou Shinichi!" Shinichi protested around pulled cheeks.

"Oh my god," Amane gasped from somewhere nearby as everyone finally let go of his face, convinced that it was his own. "Kudou-kun… _You're_ the Kaitou KID?"

"No wonder, Kuroba-kun is such a big fan," Kazeno muttered.

"Kudou… -kun?" Nakamori said, taking a small step back and looking at him critically.

"No!" Shinichi shouted. "Look!" He couldn't point, but it didn't matter. He was staring past the officers at where KID had been watching, but the thief was already gone.

"Hakuba-kun," he tried instead, "There's another Kudou Shinichi running around. That one is KID! Think, Nakamori-keibu! He was with you all when you ran down here and spotted me!"

"That's true," one of the officers agreed – one who had been at the front of the pack when they'd descended the stairs.

"So one of them _is_ a fake," Nakamori said. "But how do we know which one?"

"I'm the real one," Shinichi insisted. "Why would he run off after you caught me unless that was actually KID?"

"Kudou-kun… You run off without saying anything all the time," Hakuba pointed out.

Shinichi cringed. _Okay, yeah, I kinda deserved that one._

"Regardless," Hakuba said. "I will track down our duplicate."

"And we'll keep hold of this one," Nakamori agreed. "We won't know what's really going on until we have them both."

"Wait," Shinichi said. "KID had already loaded the lamps into a van when I came down here. Someone _else_ drove off with them. Probably one of his accomplices. You'll need to track down the van, too, before it gets too far. It was big and white and had the store logo on the side." He recited the license plate number for good measure and waited for Nakamori to make a decision.

"All right," the inspector finally said. He started shouting orders, dividing the task force into groups to go after the van and to search the area for "Kudou Shinichi," or anyone suspicious since he might have changed disguises. Then he rounded on Shinichi again. "Sorry, Kudou-kun – if you _are_ Kudou-kun – but we're not letting you go just yet."

Shinichi let out a little groan, closing his eyes and sagging slightly in the officers' tight grasp. Resigning himself, he looked up again and suddenly spotted a security camera on one of the pillars. It was pointed away from them, but he twisted around as much as he could, searching for…

 _There!_ Mounted on a pillar not far behind him was another camera. The position would show the side of the van and the back of KID's head as well as Shinichi's face during their confrontation when he'd first come down to the garage. He was familiar with the model – the footage would be black and white – low quality with no audio. It was exactly what he'd need to get out of this without raising any unnecessary questions. And KID had to know it.

"Inspector," Shinichi said, cool confidence returning. "There are security cameras in this garage and I'm pretty sure they're still working. Please check the footage – that should give you all the proof you need. I'm not KID."

.

Shinichi was finally released when Nakamori returned from checking the cameras. He rotated his shoulders, trying to work out the stiffness, and straightened his – or rather, KID's – clothes, then made a halfhearted attempt at taming his hair, not even bothering to remove the gloves. The tie was next, getting yanked loose so he could open the top buttons of the dress shirt. Then a thought occurred to him and he unbuttoned the suit jacket and checked inside it.

 _I thought so…_ He let out a quiet sigh. _This isn't a mockup. This is_ his _suit, functional glider and all._ Shinichi glanced around the floor, spotted the hat and monocle, and gathered them up. "I'm going to check upstairs; let me know if you find the van," he told Nakamori, already heading for the stairwell.

"You know where he'll be?" Nakamori called after him.

"I have a hunch," Shinichi called back, and he disappeared up the stairs, KID's cape winging out behind him.

 _I have the glider, but KID still has the card gun. Escape from the roof is still a possibility and I_ know _he'd want to see if I'd follow…_

 _._

KID turned with an easy smile when Shinichi stepped out onto the roof, and paused, taking his time looking him over. The detective's hair had been tamed somewhat and now just looked mildly windswept. The tie was hanging loose, the shirt open at the top. He had the silk hat at his side, balanced loosely between his arm and his hip, and his other hand was tucked into his pocket where KID could see the monocle charm hanging down against his leg. The cape quietly rustling behind him in the night wind just brought it all together.

"The outfit suits you, Tantei-kun," KID purred, throwing him a dangerous sort of grin. "Though really, you ought to have a little more respect for the uniform. You shouldn't wear it so sloppily." His tone was scolding and Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"Oh please."

Muffled footsteps were rumbling up the stairwell behind the roof door, but Shinichi didn't dare take his eyes from KID even for a moment. KID never looked away either.

"Oh, you brought company," he said, layering the words with a false tone of pleasant surprise. "You _really_ shouldn't have, Tantei-kun." He pulled the card gun just as Nakamori and a small group of task force officers reached the roof, and aimed it steadily at Shinichi. The officers all stalled, hanging back slightly around the door.

"What will you do, Tantei-kun?" KID asked. "I took all your clever little gadgets." He held up his left hand to show off the anesthetic watch on his wrist under the sleeve of Shinichi's jacket.

"You're not gonna hurt me, KID," Shinichi said, mostly unfazed though a little surprised at the tactic.

"Of course not," KID replied, shrugging. "But I might kidnap you again and they didn't seem to like that much the last time it happened," he added with a grin and a nod toward the officers.

"Turn yourself in, KID!" Nakamori shouted.

"Pass~!" KID replied, and he suddenly pointed the card gun down at the roof and fired.

Shinichi couldn't see what KID had loaded the gun with, but whatever it was it exploded with a hiss on impact and a pink cloud billowed out, rapidly covering the roof.

"Dammit," Shinichi breathed out, clamping a gloved hand over his mouth and nose and turning to run. He didn't get far. KID grabbed him from behind and dragged him back into the smoke, forcing his hand down away from his face and holding tight so that he couldn't move.

"Now, now," KID said, raising his voice to be heard through his gasmask. "You wanted a heist; you're getting the full experience."

Shinichi coughed weakly, fighting to resist the effects – to breathe as little as possible – but his legs were starting to give under his weight and KID lowered him gently to the roof. With his last seconds of consciousness, Shinichi grabbed KID's wrist and triggered the watch, hoping to catch him in the leg with the dart, but KID's reflexes were still as flawless as ever and Shinichi's aim was poor. The dart missed its target and Shinichi passed out without further resistance.

"Nice try, Tantei-kun," KID laughed, standing to survey his work and pulling off the gasmask as the cloud thinned. The roof was littered with officers, all strewn over each other, asleep where they'd fallen. Then the door creaked slowly open and Hakuba took a tentative step out onto the roof.

"Kudou-kun…?" he said, looking at KID. Then his eyes dropped to the mask in KID's hand, and the sleeping detective at KID's feet. "Kudou-kun!" Gritting his teeth, he charged forward at the now-grinning Shinichi-imposter. "KID!"

"Have fun with the cleanup~!" KID said, and with a wave he vanished in a swirl of red smoke.

.

"I've already switched the plates; you should be all set." Jii got out of the van and handed the keys over to Kaito, who had already traded out his disguise for plain black clothes with a black baseball cap and gloves.

"Thanks Jii-chan. Sorry about the late notice; I really owe you."

"Bocchama…" Jii started hesitantly as Kaito climbed into the driver seat and closed the door. "Is everything all right?"

"Hm?" Kaito rested his elbow on the open window. "Yeah, why?"

"It's just… I could have sworn you said tonight was–"

"Don't worry about it, Jii-chan."

"…Of course, Bocchama. But… why the lamps?"

"It was just another fake notice; you know how it goes." He turned the key and the engine rumbled to life. "Well, I'm off!" he said, flicking Jii a salute. "Wish me luck~!"

The van pulled slowly away and out onto city streets, leaving Jii in the shadows of the alley. "Good luck, Bocchama," he murmured. Then he turned and headed for home.

.

"One last finishing touch and…" KID connected the last extension cord and the roof of the Beika police station flooded with light, the eleven stolen Tiffany lamps all shining stoically where they stood, arranged in a neat circle. "That should do it~!" he said with a grin. "Guess it's time to take my leave."

He left the (equally stolen) van at the police station as well and removed his hat and gloves before heading to the Kudou manor. The house was dark and, he found, empty.

 _Hm. He's probably filing his report for the heist with the police,_ Kaito thought as he slipped in through Shinichi's window to return his stolen clothes and gadgets. For the sake of thoroughness, he checked downstairs before heading out again, and found Shinichi's mug half full of stone cold coffee still sitting on the table in front of the couch, the TV remote right beside it.

 _Okay. A little strange,_ Kaito thought. _It looks like he left right after I did this morning and hasn't been back… What is he up to…?_ He considered the situation a little longer but ultimately shrugged it off. He could pester Shinichi about it later. For now, he made sure the house was locked up and headed back home.

.

The strangest part was that the front door had been locked.

Kaito stood in the entryway of his own house, contemplating the traps he'd set there. All of them had been neatly deactivated, and he might have suspected a professional-grade break-in, but why would they leave all the traps so blatantly tampered with and still lock the front door behind them?

Card gun in hand, Kaito crept farther into the house, intending to find those answers for himself. What he found instead was his missing detective, lying on the couch reading a worn copy of _Ars_ _è_ _ne Lupin, Gentleman Burglar_ that Kaito recognized as his own. After a moment he also recognized the black button down and dress pants Shinichi was wearing as his own.

"If you're trying to make some kind of point, I think I'm missing it," Kaito informed him from the doorway.

Shinichi sat up, carefully placing the book on the table. Then he glanced over at Kaito, his eyes lingering for a moment on the gun.

"That's not for me, is it?" he asked quietly.

"Of course not," Kaito said casually, shrugging as the gun disappeared in a little puff of smoke.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to put you on alert like that."

"What are you doing here?"

Shinichi's eyes went to the floor at the lack of emotion in Kaito's voice. "It's our anniversary," he muttered. "Where else would I be?"

"Is that right?" Kaito's hands went to his hips, his posture shifting to mirror the mocking edge to his words. "Who reminded you? Ran? Don't tell me it was Haibara-san; that's just sad."

"It was Hattori actually," Shinichi said. "Last week, when we went to Osaka."

"…So you _did_ already know this morning."

"Well, yeah," Shinichi answered. "But I had some stuff to take care of and I needed you distracted. Now go put your stuff away. We've got a date."

Kaito blinked subtly wide eyes at him. "…We do?"

"Yeah, at Sugar Rush."

"That new place that had to delay their opening? What–?"

"I sort of made a deal with them," Shinichi said, standing and slipping his hands into his pockets. "They'll be opening officially next week, but tonight they're making an exception for us."

Kaito grinned and it almost served to hide the faint blush coloring his cheeks. "You caught the guys who broke in, didn't you. That's why you were up early this morning. And why you were late to the heist tonight."

"Yeah."

The grin widened and Kaito moved into the room, grabbing Shinichi by the front of his shirt and pulling him into a deep kiss. Shinichi melted against him, relieved and grateful, and his arms circled Kaito's waist.

Kaito pulled back just slightly and touched his forehead to Shinichi's. "You know," he murmured. "If you were gonna borrow my clothes anyway, you should have kept the suit on."

"Are you kidding?" Shinichi scoffed. "I saw the way you were looking at me in that outfit. We'd've never made it to the café."

"But it _is_ our anniversary," Kaito insisted. "Seems like a good way to celebrate~"

" _After_ the café," Shinichi told him firmly and Kaito drew back a little to meet Shinichi's eyes, his face a much more obvious shade of pink now.

"S-Seriously?"

"It's the least I can do after sending you on two wild goose chases in one day," Shinichi murmured, avoiding Kaito's eyes and blushing just as badly as he was.

Kaito considered him in silence for a few moments then gave a decisive nod. With a quick shove, he pushed Shinichi down onto the couch and pinned him there, leaning in for another kiss. Shinichi blinked up at him, briefly dazed, when Kaito pulled back again.

"You know, this is really sweet of you, Shinichi," he said, staring down at him with a soft smile. "It's been a long time since anybody's actually surprised me like this."

"That's because it's damn near impossible to do without going to ridiculous extremes," Shinichi pointed out, just taking his spontaneous horizontal position in stride. "And getting you mad at me."

Kaito just leaned down again and brushed his lips against Shinichi's, soft and just barely lingering. " _Thank you_ , Shinichi," he said, meeting his eyes. "But seriously, you don't have to feel obligated to do stuff like this. I know it's not really your thing and I _like_ planning our dates and surprising you–"

"I've noticed."

"–so don't worry about that stuff unless you actually want to, okay?"

"It's not that I don't _want_ to…" Shinichi muttered. Kaito raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "Yeah, okay, never mind," Shinichi laughed. "To be honest, I didn't even realize it had already been a year until Hattori asked how long we'd been together. It sort of snuck up on me, you know?"

"Well," Kaito said. "Don't think I didn't know _something_ was up. I knew what day today was and you were acting weird – wearing your watch to bed, getting up and getting dressed as early as you did without any intercession and then not going anywhere. The heist was a hell of a distraction, I'll admit, but, uh, don't do that again, okay?"

"Heh, I won't."

Kaito smiled and stood, offering his hand to Shinichi to pull him up off of the couch. "Okay then, let's get going~! Ah, wait right here; I'll go put the KID stuff away." Kaito ran off and Shinichi breathed out a quiet sigh, running a hand through his hair.

 _I swear, someday that thief will be the death of me,_ he thought with a smile.

.

 **Author Note:**

I enjoyed the hell out of this heist XD I missed writing the heists from before they were together. This one kind of had that feel :)

Also, this heist is _entirely_ solomonara's fault. Which makes sense. "Lovesick" (one of my other kaishin fics) was all her fault as well and it might be my favorite of my shorter kaishin works. I always end up loving the ones she's behind the most :)

YOU GUYS. LOOK. blackkatjinx. deviantart art/Chase-595177066

Or, alternatively, if you do not have a Deviant Art account, TUMBL. blackkatjinx. tumblr post/140648963203/so-i-am-very-much-a-kaishin-fan-from-dcmk

This amazing piece was done by Black-Kat Jinx and she said I could share it with all of you because she is all kinds of awesome :D It was inspired by chapter 13 of this fic.

The next chapter is a short one. It is called "Revenge." Please look forward to it~!


	25. Chapter 25

**Case 25 – Revenge**

.

"He killed her," the woman stated bitterly. Her whole body was shaking but she stood straight, hands fisted at her sides as though determined not to give in to it. Silent tears had long since spilled over onto her cheeks. "He killed her," she repeated. "And there is nothing that could have stopped me from–" Her voice broke and she had to struggled to bring it back. "She's gone. She's gone because of him and I can never forgive that."

Shinichi was starting to regret coming with Megure on this case. It was so easy to get pulled into the rush of the mystery – to solve the puzzle, find the answer. To uncover the truth. But he hated cases like this. The ones that would have been so easily avoided if someone had just _talked_ to the person. Shared their grief. Helped them realize that more killing wouldn't help anything. That all murder did was destroy lives – the victim's, the murderer's, all of the people around them… There was no good to be found here. None at all.

Afterwards, when Megure clapped him on the back and told him, "Good work, Kudou-kun," and bid him farewell, Shinichi forced down his frustration and smiled back. "See you later, Inspector," he said with a casual wave as he turned to head home.

He got back much later than he had been expecting to earlier that day, but that wasn't unusual. When he walked into the sitting room he found Kaito curled up on the couch, and that wasn't unusual either. What _was_ unusual was that Kaito was asleep.

Shinichi set his bag down and went over to the couch to get a better look at the book lying open under Kaito's hand. The thing was enormous, and, after very carefully slipping it free, Shinichi removed a pen from where it had fallen in the center crease and glanced over the cover. It was a chemistry textbook, most likely for one of Kaito's classes (though Shinichi wouldn't have been all that surprised to find Kaito reading a chemistry text for his own use or amusement), and Kaito had scribbled notes in nearly every margin, as well as a few doodles. Catching just a few of the untidily scrawled words, Shinichi got the distinct impression that these notes were _not_ of a scholastic nature. He breathed out a short, quiet laugh and set the book gently on the coffee table before sinking down into the cushions at the free end of the couch.

His eyes wandered back to Kaito. It was a bit odd to realize how rarely he actually saw him asleep. For as often as they spent the night together now, Shinichi had always been the first one asleep and the last one awake, and he hadn't thought much of it until now. It was definitely strange to see Kaito's face without some kind of emotion on it. He was, Shinichi realized, a particularly expressive person, which really made that poker face of his that much more impressive.

Shinichi smiled a little before pushing out a heavy sigh, trying to keep it quiet so as not to disturb Kaito, and let his head tip back against the couch. His eyes slipped closed and almost immediately a flash of red flooded his memory, the violent murder scene still sharp and clear behind his eyes. His head jerked back up, eyes flying open again, and the quiet voice from beside him actually made him jump.

"What's wrong?" Kaito asked, levering himself up on an elbow as he flicked a hand though his hair, the haze of sleep already lifted from watchful eyes.

Shinichi relaxed into the back of the couch again and dragged his hands down over his face, flinching slightly when the unwelcome image pounced again the moment his eyes closed under them. "Bad night," he murmured to Kaito. "Bad case."

"Hm?" Kaito shifted over until he was sitting right up against Shinichi and Shinichi unconsciously leaned into the warmth. "Did you catch the bad guy?"

"I guess that depends on your perspective. She didn't seem to think she'd done anything wrong. And the guy she killed was a murderer too."

Kaito's eyes darted across Shinichi's face, concern twisting the corners of his mouth down, and Shinichi felt a little inappropriate for smiling but he couldn't help it. It was somehow comforting to see that familiar play of emotions across Kaito's face.

He started to get up, not sure what he wanted most at that moment – coffee, a warm shower, or sleep – but Kaito snagged his sleeve and pulled him back down. "Hey," he said softly. "Stay here a minute."

Shinichi's hand moved over Kaito's to gently pry it loose, but the touch only made Kaito cling harder. "You're freezing," he accused, all remnants of the sleepy tone now gone from his voice. "Did you walk all the way home again? It's the middle of the night–"

"It's fine, Kaito," Shinichi said patiently.

"Yeah, well, it bothers me when you do that. And you do it a lot. It's like when one of these 'bad cases' comes up, you solve it and then go out tempting trouble, like you're hoping another case will turn up and I know that's _exactly_ what you're doing because you are blushing right now. You're embarrassed that I caught on."

Shinichi turned his face away slightly, going an even deeper shade of red, because yes, he knew on some level that Kaito was right, but he didn't want to look too closely at that particular aspect of his own personality. He was about to try escaping again but Kaito shifted over before he could move and somehow managed to settle himself in Shinichi's lap, facing him with his knees on either side of Shinichi's hips, effectively keeping him in place and making the blush reach all the way up his ears. Shinichi seriously doubted any bit of him was cold anymore.

"Talk to me," Kaito insisted, bracing his hands on the back of the couch on either side of Shinichi and giving him very little choice but to meet Kaito's eyes.

"…How do you do it?" Shinichi sighed. Then the words were spilling out. "I've seen so many people so… _lost_ in revenge and it's so twisted and foreign that a lot of times they don't even realize it has hold of them until somebody's already dead. But you never cross that line, even though you could… You could, so easily…"

Kaito shifted slightly, relaxing now that Shinichi was no longer attempting to get away. His hand came up, gentle against Shinichi's cheek. "No, Tantei-kun," he said simply.

"Heh. If anybody ever manages to kill me–" Shinichi continued in a distracted murmur, but Kaito cut him off.

" _No_."

The word was sharp and too quick and Shinichi flinched back, slightly alarmed. Kaito's hand returned to the back of the couch to trap him in again.

"If anything ever happened to you, I wouldn't stop until the people responsible were put behind bars for good," Kaito explained, and the heat in his voice and in his eyes made a feeling like static rise through Shinichi under his skin. "And I would do it the right way because that's what you would do. And if I needed to call that revenge instead of justice or truth then I would. Because that's what it would be. And that's what I'd need." He leaned in then, his forehead resting lightly against Shinichi's. "But still," he added. "I'd appreciate it if you could maybe _not_ get murdered."

"Heh," Shinichi's eyes closed and he reached up, fingers gripping into Kaito's hair to keep him from moving away. "Are there really people like you?"

Kaito smirked at him though it went unseen. "Of course not," he replied. "There's nobody like me."

Already Shinichi was smiling again, and on impulse he tilted his face up and caught Kaito's lips with his own, an arm slipping around Kaito's waist to pull him in closer.

Kaito might have been startled, but if he was he didn't show it. He leaned into Shinichi, pressing him back into the couch, and nipped gently at his lip before he broke away to touch light kisses across Shinichi's cheek, up to his temple and along the side of his face.

Shinichi breathed out a quiet laugh. "Thank you for getting me to talk," he said. "I know I'm not really good about that."

"That's okay," Kaito murmured, smirking against Shinichi's skin. "'Cause I'm great about stuff like that, see?"

"Okay, now get off of me," Shinichi said with a little smile and more than a little fondness.

Kaito pulled back to stare down at his detective with wide, pleading eyes. "…Do I really have to?"

Face warming again, Shinichi said firmly, "Yes."

Kaito laughed and Shinichi tried not to notice how that felt with Kaito on top of him like he was.

"Okay," Kaito said. "Let's get some sleep."


	26. Chapter 26

Okay guys - warnings for this chapter: murder, violence, kidnapping, and possible undue stress to the reader... Sorry ^.^;

.

 **Case 26 – Deal**

.

He should have seen it coming. He should have seen all of it coming.

The gunshot was still ringing in Shinichi's ears when he ducked back down behind the piece of factory machinery and cut off the video he'd been taking with his phone. He'd been Sasagi-keiji's intern of sorts for a grand total of thirty-eight hours, and now the man was dead.

Twenty-eight hours ago, Shinichi had left the police station after his first day of shadowing Sasagi as part of a college program that Megure had recommended him for. Eleven hours ago, Shinichi had realized that Sasagi's apparent nervousness had nothing to do with the fact that he had a young new intern under his wing. Four hours ago, Shinichi had decided to find out what exactly had his new mentor so on edge.

And thirty seconds ago, Sasagi had been shot through the heart by one of the three men now standing in this factory who'd been blackmailing him for police secrets.

Apparently, they'd gotten all they'd needed.

Shinichi could feel his pulse rocketing through his body as he strained to hear if the three men were moving. He didn't dare risk peeking out from his hiding place again. If there had only been one of them, or even two, he might have risked the anesthetic watch, but there was no way he could take out all three of them without getting himself shot. Calling the police was out of the question – any sound at all echoed easily across the factory floor and would give him away. Shinichi stared down at the phone in his hand and, after a moment of deliberation, attached the video he'd taken to a text message that said "call the police" and the location of the factory. With any luck, Kaito would see it right away and help would quickly follow. Until then, he'd just have to stay quiet and stay hidden.

It was a great plan until he overheard another two men join the first three.

"Merlot says it's time to go."

"Any clean up?"

"Na, not today. Just leave 'im."

"Better hurry up. She's getting impatient."

"Yeah, well, next time _she_ can handle getting the intel if she's gonna complain about it."

The voices faded along with their footsteps and Shinichi was only keeping still through enormous effort. Merlot. They were part of the Organization. Of _course_ they were. They'd already managed to sneak members into the ranks of the police force in Ekoda and Osaka. Now that Yasuda and Nozue had been exposed and the word had spread, it seemed they were taking a new approach.

And they were going to get away and give all of the information they'd gotten from Sasagi to the rest of the Organization if he didn't do something now. He glanced down at his phone. There was a response from Kaito: _"Police on the way. Are you safe?"_ The message had only just come in. The police wouldn't arrive in time unless he found a way to slow the Organization group down.

Shinichi tucked his phone away without answering. The group had already left the factory floor; he'd have to hurry if he was going to make any difference.

He caught sight of them again just as they were leaving the building, and ran to another entrance he'd used when he'd followed Sasagi inside. It let out between the factory and the building next door and Shinichi crouched down to sneak a look around the corner at the parking lot where the group had gathered. A large van and a sleek black car were parked side by side in the otherwise empty lot, and leaning against the car was a very young woman, her face pale and beautiful in a frame of straight black hair. Her cherry red lips were pinched around a cigarette, and as he watched, she took one last long draw from it and flicked the butt at one of the men.

"About time," Merlot said, the words coming out in a cloud of smoke. "Let's go." She turned and reached for the car door and Shinichi cast a quick glance around the narrow passage between the buildings, desperate for something he could use. His eyes caught on the door and he was throwing his blazer off even before his plan had fully formed.

In the lot, Merlot had just opened the car door, and the men had converged on the van when they all stopped, arrested by the soft, strange sound that had echoed subtly between the buildings. A moment later, every one of them had drawn a gun, and, as they watched, a soccer ball rolled slowly out from the narrow passage and gradually deflated. Merlot reached up with her free hand to grab the shoulder of one of the men and shoved him forward to investigate. He barely glanced back at her before starting across the lot, gun raised and ready.

It was dark between the buildings, away from the lights that lined the parking lot, and it took the man just a moment too long to process what he was seeing. Shinichi had pulled the elasticity suspenders across two semi-parallel doorknobs to make a slingshot and drawn it back, a large chunk of broken brick already cradled in it. As soon as the man was in view, Shinichi released it, and the brick caught him in the face even as he fired the gun. The bullet clipped Shinichi's shoulder but he ignored it, ducking under the now slack loop of the suspenders and snatching up the gun the man had dropped when he'd hit the ground.

Shinichi crouched at the mouth of the passage again, using the corner of the building as cover, and managed to get off one quick shot that took out a tire on the car before the group in the lot returned fire. A bullet hit his gun and he dropped it, swearing sharply under his breath as he jerked his hands back from the wrenching force and spray of hot metal shards. The gun was worse than useless now and the van was still functional – they'd take off the moment they heard sirens. Shinichi swallowed roughly and made up his mind.

"You're a pretty good shot," he called out, standing slowly and keeping his back pressed to the brick wall, still out of sight around the corner from the parking lot. "I'm surprised. I mean, you were sloppy enough to get caught on camera blackmailing and murdering a detective for police secrets."

Merlot threw a sharp glare that promised hell to pay at the men around her, but she kept her gun trained on the space between the buildings and called out, "Get out here!"

"See what I mean about sloppy?" he shouted back, edging slowly back toward the door to the factory. "I've got no reason to come out into the open and get shot. You want that video, you'll have to catch me first." He slipped the loop of the suspenders off of the door handle, leaving them dangling from the opposite knob, and ducked back into the factory, letting the door slam behind him with an echoing bang.

"You, with me," Merlot snapped at one of the men. "The rest of you watch the exits. If anybody comes running out of that building, shoot them." She pushed the one man forward, having him lead the way quickly into the narrow passage, then through the side door after Shinichi.

The factory was mostly dark with only dim safety lighting on throughout the halls and on the factory floor, but it was also quiet, and Shinichi's small lead was not enough that Merlot could not follow the sound of his footsteps. The hallways gave no cover, so Shinichi sprinted out onto the factory floor and took a sharp left just as the man and Merlot ran in. The man took a shot as Shinichi ducked around a corner and it missed him, pinging off of a conveyor belt that ran alongside the aisle Shinichi was racing down. Merlot kicked off her black spiked heels and cut down a parallel aisle as the man continued ahead and Shinichi was seriously beginning to doubt this plan. It had crossed his mind at the time that this was what Kaito did. This was what Kaito _constantly_ did, every time he put on that white suit and every time he announced a heist – he made a target of himself and Shinichi was absolutely going to kill him because this was dangerous and stupid and just a horrible plan–

Another shot rang out just as Shinichi launched himself up the short set of metal stairs ahead of him, but he never made it to the top. The bullet grazed his ankle, drawing blood and nicking bone in a flash of hot pain, and Shinichi missed a step and crashed forward onto the stairs.

Before he could scramble to his feet, the man caught up. He grabbed Shinichi's wounded ankle and dragged him back down the stairs with one powerful tug then threw him onto his back on the floor. His head met the cement solidly and in almost the same moment the man stomped a foot down on Shinichi's chest to keep him pinned. If there had been any air left in his lungs he would have cried out, but as it was he could only gasp, fighting for breath through the sharp stabs of pain that now accompanied each attempt.

The man pointed the gun down at him. "Hand over the video," he barked.

It took a second for the double images Shinichi was seeing to pull together into a coherent picture, but the moment they did he forced his arms up and fired a dart from his watch into the man's face. Instantly he staggered back and collapsed, and the pressure lifted from Shinichi's chest with a burst of fresh pain. He rolled over onto his side, his face twisted and his voice lost, but he tried to push through it. He knew that moment was his best chance to get up and run before Merlot made it over to him, but his body seemed to have other ideas that mostly involved falling over again before even making it to his feet. His head was spinning, his ribs screaming protest, and he couldn't seem to take a breath without also drawing out new stabs of pain.

He'd barely made it to his hands and knees when Merlot came up and shoved him back down with one bare foot. He blacked out for just a moment when his ribs met the floor, but the world crashed back into focus when Merlot pushed him again, rolling him onto his back and crouching beside him to jam the still-warm barrel of her gun under his chin, pressing the metal hard against his throat.

Shinichi stopped struggling. For a few seconds, Merlot just stared down at his face and all he could do was stare back and force himself to breathe. The smell of cigarettes on Merlot was strong but Shinichi had the vague impression of something else underneath it – a sweet scent, undercut with something keener. His thoughts couldn't focus enough to place it.

"You look familiar," Merlot finally said, but she didn't seem to be expecting a reply. Instead she dug into his pockets until she found his phone, keeping the gun tight against his neck while she checked for the video. What she saw instead was the open text message conversation.

"Kaito…" she read from the top of the screen. Her eyes flicked down to the messages: _"I'm coming over there." "Police on the way. Are you safe?"_ and above that, a video file with the location of the factory. Merlot's face went even paler and she turned dark, furious eyes onto Shinichi. As she scowled down at him, something like realization crossed her face and she suddenly looked back to the phone and flew through the contacts, taking them in before selecting one to make a call. It was answered almost immediately, but no one spoke.

"Is this Kaito?" Merlot asked, forcing her voice into a casual tone.

On the other end of the line, Kaito froze on his way out the door but quickly threw his voice into a different pitch and answered, "Yes."

"We have Kudou Shinichi."

A shot of adrenaline jumped through Shinichi along with another wrenching pain from his ribs as he pulled in a startled breath. Apparently Merlot had figured out why he looked familiar.

"I figured," Kaito said, calm though his stomach was twisting and his blood felt cold.

Merlot's eyes narrowed. "…How much did you tell the police when you contacted them?" she asked slowly.

"Only where to go. Nothing else. I even called in anonymously from another phone."

"… _Why_?"

"Because I have my reasons for avoiding the police, and I don't take chances when I don't have all the information. I am not to be taken lightly. What is your offer."

Merlot paused a moment. She had to agree that this person seemed serious, and certainly was not to be trusted. "A trade," she said, and she sounded amused. "Bring your phone to the old Pluto Corp. parking garage, level 1B. I'll have your story checked out. _If_ it's true that the police don't know what they were called in for _and_ if there are no outgoing calls or messages – no transfers of data since the video was sent to you – I will take the phone and you can have Kudou. If the video is leaked, Kudou is dead. If you are not at the meeting place in thirty minutes, Kudou is dead."

"No deal without proof of life."

Merlot smiled down at Shinichi. "I'll send it to your phone. See you in thirty." She ended the call and took a moment to check the settings on the phone to ensure that it would not lock, then slipped it into an inner pocket in her blazer. "You have an interesting friend, Kudou Shinichi," she said. Shinichi glared up at her, but he couldn't do much else in the position he was in. She pulled out her own phone and called one of the men outside.

"I've got him. One of you get the van ready, and somebody get in here to carry him out. The police are on the way and we've got some damage control to deal with thanks to you idiots." One dark red manicured nail clicked against the screen of her phone as she hung up and then her focus was on Shinichi again, and the look in her eyes made him wonder if she'd lied to Kaito about keeping him alive until their meeting, but a moment later she was easing the gun back from his throat. He watched it carefully, searching for the moment when he'd be able to fight back without immediately getting shot, but it never came.

"Don't get any ideas," Merlot warned. She abruptly drove an elbow down into his injured ribs and Shinichi choked on a scream as his whole body jerked, trying to twist away from her, but the next moment she had lashed out with the gun, metal connecting solidly with the side of his head, and the factory blinked out to blackness.

.

Kaito disengaged the black glider and landed silently on the roof of the parking garage. It had barely taken him ten minutes to make it there by air, and the place seemed abandoned. He took a moment to remove the black cape – modeled after KID's for convenience but used only when stealth was a necessity – and tucked it into a corner with the bag he'd brought, leaving him in black street clothes, though with gloves and a baseball cap set low over his eyes. Ducked down behind the ledge of the rooftop lot where he could easily watch for someone to arrive, Kaito pulled out his phone. There was a video message waiting from Shinichi's number and he took in a slow breath, bracing himself before pulling off a glove and tapping it open.

It started rough, the screen black with only some shuffling sounds of the phone being handled before a small light came on, angled from somewhere off to the side of the camera, spotlighting Shinichi, unconscious on the floor. He was lying on his side facing the camera, his hands almost certainly tied behind his back from the unnatural position of his arms. A small cut and bruise just visible under his bangs suggested he'd been knocked out, and violently, and there was a bloody tear through the shoulder of his shirt and another through the cuff of his pants, but beyond that he did not appear to be badly injured. Kaito breathed out quietly.

Then a woman stepped into the picture. The camera was angled down, cutting off her head and shoulders as she circled Shinichi, slow and deliberate and predatory, and her footsteps and voice came through with a subtle echo. "He won't wake up, so I didn't figure just a picture would satisfy you as proof of life. As you can see, he's still breathing."

She paused in her circle for a moment, her back to the camera, then suddenly jabbed a swift kick into Shinichi's ribs. He woke with a strangled cry, his whole body flinching, curling in around what Kaito now guessed were previously damaged bones. A blank mask fell over Kaito's face as he watched Shinichi huff out a few shallow breaths that turned to mist in front of him.

"Ah, there now. I guess that wasn't so hard," the woman said, and Kaito was certain that they were showing him this on purpose, hoping to rattle him, because worry led to mistakes. He kept his eyes locked on the video, taking in every possible detail, and saw Shinichi's eyes slowly open as he got a handle on the pain. As Kaito watched, they flicked to one side of the camera, settled on the camera itself, then moved to the other side before sliding up to settle on the woman above him. Each movement was precise and deliberate and Kaito got the message. There were four people in the room with him. There could be more somewhere else, but at least he had a minimum number that he'd be dealing with.

"You awake now, Kudou?" the woman asked when Shinichi looked up at her. "You've got twenty minutes to live." She stepped away from him and the video cut off.

Kaito very carefully turned off the screen on his phone, his movements strictly controlled. The video had come in at 10:32 PM – just ten minutes after the woman had called him, so wherever they had taken Shinichi had to be fairly close to the factory – no more than eight minutes by car… which gave him up to a ten kilometer radius around the factory. Too much area to check in less than fifteen minutes.

A van pulled up to the parking garage and Kaito peered over the ledge to watch it roll quietly in. He took a moment to still himself, did one last check of his supplies, tugged his glove back on, and made certain to wipe all fingerprints from his phone before heading silently down through the sloping levels of the garage toward 1B. Moving carefully and keeping low behind the half-wall that divided the level, he crept closer and saw a small woman and two large men standing around the van parked in the middle of an empty aisle.

"Are you sure about this, Merlot?" one of the men asked, watching the woman flick open a lighter and light a cigarette. "How do we know he won't send the cops here instead?" Kaito numbly acknowledged the alcohol codename as Merlot exchanged her lighter for Shinichi's phone. She opened the text conversation again and began idly scrolling through the messages, a sadistic smile on her face.

"Because this guy might be good, but he also _cares_ about our young detective. He's careful. He won't take chances with Kudou's life." She glanced at the time. "Make yourself useful and go hide somewhere," she said to one of the men. "I may want our friend taken out, but wait for my signal."

Kaito tensed as the man moved away from the group, but he did not head toward where Kaito was hiding. Instead, he went for the stair access door in the corner of the lot near the entrance and positioned himself behind it, leaving it open with just enough of a gap so that he could see, and so he could point the barrel of a gun through it. Kaito rolled his eyes then focused himself again. He needed to consider his options. Playing this meeting by their rules was definitely not one of them – he really had nothing to bargain with. He knew as soon as they confirmed they'd gotten the only other copy of the video, they'd kill him _and_ Shinichi. He needed more leverage.

Kaito slipped away from the wall like a shadow and ran back up to the second level of the garage to duck into the stairwell one flight up from where the gunman was hiding. Silent and unseen, he moved down the stairs and crept up behind the man whose attention was fully on the gap in the door. The gun was still holstered at his side and Kaito reached up to dust the soft material of his glove feather-light against the man's ear. He twitched subtly and brought a hand up to brush at the tingling skin and never even noticed Kaito stealing the gun from its holster. Kaito removed the magazine and repeated the process to slip the gun back in place then moved back up the stairs as though he'd never been there at all, reclaiming his hiding place behind the partition where he could watch Merlot, though not before making a few other preparations around the garage just in case. Now he just had to wait… for the meeting time to pass.

.

Merlot flicked away her second cigarette and scowled at the clock on Shinichi's phone before switching it out for her own. She jabbed her finger at the screen and put it to her ear. "It looks like we need to send a clearer message," she said. "Cut off a finger or something on video. That should make this Kaito person stop fooling around–"

Kaito chose that moment to run into the garage from the street entrance in a carefully balanced display of urgency and control. He pretended to be out of breath, but when he spoke, the words were calm and collected. "There's no need for that," he said, adopting the voice he'd used earlier on the phone. "I'm here."

The man still standing with Merlot moved forward and Kaito obligingly raised empty hands as he checked him for weapons, but all he found was Kaito's phone. He took it from him without a word and brought it to Merlot. Kaito stayed put. He'd positioned himself precisely so that he'd be far enough from Merlot to make her comfortable, but close enough that he could close the distance quickly if needed. He was also in direct line of sight of the gunman in the stairwell – an easy target. He kept his hands in the air.

Merlot took Kaito's phone from the man, her own still at her ear as she checked for any sign of outgoing calls or messages since the video was sent. Satisfied with what she saw, she said smoothly into her phone, "Never mind; leave him. We've got what we need." She hung up and tucked both phones into her blazer and Kaito caught a glimpse of a shoulder holster as she pulled out another cigarette.

"Where is he?" Kaito said firmly.

Merlot lit the cigarette, taking her time, and blew out a leisurely stream of smoke. "Unfortunately, Kudou Shinichi is very overdue for a meeting with a certain colleague of mine. I'm afraid he'll need to stay with us after all."

"Gin," Kaito stated, not bothering to hide the venom in his voice.

Merlot blinked her surprise, but then her face changed, a scowl forming around the cigarette and her eyes going dark with anger. "You really do know entirely too much, don't you."

"So I've been told," Kaito said carefully.

Merlot watched him for a few seconds before the tension eased out of her shoulders and the lines smoothed from her face. She waved a hand flippantly. "That's fine. I'm done with you anyway."

She waited but nothing happened and Kaito finally lowered his hands so he could cross his arms and raise a mocking eyebrow at Merlot who was shooting an angry glare toward the door of the stairwell. It opened and Kaito glanced back as the gunman emerged, threw his gun down in a display of unrestrained frustration, and started toward Kaito, looking like he could certainly make do if he could get his bare hands around Kaito's throat.

Kaito turned back to Merlot, unconcerned. She and the other man had drawn their guns, but then something let out a shrill whistle that echoed through the garage and they both missed the moment that Kaito moved. The next thing the three of them knew, he was holding the magazine from the other man's gun and making a show of looking bored as he leaned his shoulder against the van.

"Hm. Should really be more careful about who you let handle your guns," he said.

Merlot, being the only one left who still actually had bullets, pulled the trigger, but her foot got caught in a simple rope trap at the same moment and she was dragged off of her feet and up into the air, her bullet going astray. It only made her more furious, which only made her more focused. She curled her small frame up in an impressive show of strength and aimed her gun, shooting the rope she was dangling from and splitting it. She fell hard to the pavement, letting her right shoulder take the blow, and rolled, back on her feet in only a handful of seconds, and once she was upright again, she saw her men sprawled out, unconscious on the ground. Kaito was nowhere to be seen. Immediately she kicked off her shoes and put her back to a wall, looking around warily, her finger ready on the trigger, but nothing happened and the garage had fallen eerily silent.

Easing one hand away from her gun, Merlot reached into her pocket to pull out her cell phone. As her fingers slipped past the silky lining inside her blazer, there was a faint hiss, and she caught just a breath of some kind of gas. Her eyelids suddenly felt heavy.

"Hang on now," she heard as if from a distance. She didn't realize she was falling until someone caught her, and she struggled to focus. To fight. That was when she realized she was sitting against the wall and her hands were tied together at the wrists.

"Geez, you're such a lightweight. I should have used a smaller dose."

She wasn't so far gone that she couldn't recognize the barrel of a gun pressed to her forehead and Merlot's eyes snapped wide, a kick of adrenaline sweeping away some of the fog the sleep gas had wrapped her in. She sucked in a breath and glared at Kaito. His eyes were completely shadowed by the brim of his black cap.

"Awake now?" he asked. "Where is he?"

Merlot laughed. "You going to kill me if I don't tell you?"

Kaito was silent and still for a long moment before pulling the gun back from Merlot's head and turning it to show her the missing magazine. He tossed it aside. "How would that help anything?" he said.

Merlot took a moment to recover from her surprise and then shrugged. "It might help me," she said calmly. "Gin is going to kill me anyway now that all of this has gone wrong."

"He can't kill you if you're in jail. Tell me where Shinichi is."

She was laughing again before he even finished. "You think he can't?" She said it like it was the most ridiculous notion in the world. "He might not bother, but only if I keep my mouth shut. Not even jail can save a turncoat and everybody knows it. Gin wants Kudou. I'm not saying a word."

Kaito felt his heart jump but he didn't let it show. Still, he couldn't keep the thoughts from cutting to the front of his mind. _Does he already know? Did he find out? Does Gin know Shinichi is alive?_

He only kept the encroaching sense of panic at bay with a force of will. "…What are your men going to do if they don't hear from you?"

Merlot scoffed. "They don't know Gin wants him. Low-levels like them aren't kept in that loop."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that if I don't check in, the deal's gone bad and they cut their losses and get out. Your friend's a liability. He won't be going with them."

She didn't need to clarify. Kaito understood that message perfectly and it was written all over his face. Merlot smirked a little and shrugged, settling in against the wall with no intent of saying another word and Kaito didn't bother trying to persuade her. It would only be a waste of time he didn't have. He hit her with another blast of sleep gas and snatched her phone from her pocket, tugging off a glove to call the most recently dialed number.

"There's been a delay," Kaito said when it was answered, mimicking Merlot's voice.

"Gonna need that motivation after all?" the man at the other end asked.

"No, he's got some leverage. I need another proof of life video. And hurry up."

Kaito ended the call and replaced his glove, then took back his phone and Shinichi's as well, pocketing all three so he could pick up Merlot. There was an old bike rack just outside the parking garage and, as he was tying her to it, he caught a strange scent.

 _Peaches… and mint…_ he thought, glancing over the woman again. _That's unusual._ But he didn't give it any more thought. He quickly went back into the garage and carried out each of the two men Merlot had brought with her and tied them to the bike rack as well. By the time he was done, the new video was waiting on Merlot's phone.

Kaito didn't hesitate at all. He opened it and saw Shinichi in a spotlight surrounded by darkness again, but this time he was sitting up, though, it seemed, not of his own power. A man with a bandana covering most of his face was crouched beside him, holding him upright by a fistful of hair, and though he was awake Shinichi did not look up at the camera. He was visibly shivering and Kaito could only imagine the pain that was causing him as Shinichi drew his breaths in quick and shallow around a cloth pulled tight between his teeth.

The man holding him up patted Shinichi's cheek with the back of his free hand and Shinichi immediately flinched away from him, but that was a mistake. Kaito saw his eyes squeeze shut as he bit down harder on the gag with a muffled groan, the motion clearly having exacerbated the pain from his ribs.

"Still alive," the man said, a smile in his voice. "So play nice."

The video ended and Kaito swore sharply under his breath, but he didn't waste even one second indulging in the fear and horror twisting inside of him. None of it mattered. All that mattered was getting to Shinichi, but he still didn't know where to look. There was nothing useful in the videos. All he knew now was that there were still at least three people there with him, and that he was somewhere relatively close by. It may as well have been _nothing_ to go on.

His options were limited. He didn't know enough about these people to keep pretending to be Merlot. Even the call he'd just made was only possible because he'd waited to see how she handled him showing up late, and showing off knowledge of Gin would just give him away since apparently the lackeys weren't told things like that. There was no other choice. He had to find Shinichi himself, and if he was going to do that, he needed help.

Kaito swapped Merlot's phone out for his own and started back up the ramps toward the roof lot where he'd left his glider and his less easily concealable tools. As he went, he quickly tapped in a number and put the phone to his ear. It was late, but the call was answered almost immediately. Kaito cut right to the chase.

"Hakuba, I need your help."

"… _Kuroba-kun_?" Hakuba said into the phone, hardly believing his own ears considering that that had sounded like a genuine plea. "What are you–?"

"Shinichi's been kidnapped." The words came out on a sigh because really. Only Shinichi.

"You do not sound all that concerned," Hakuba observed. "Given that he is your–"

"I called _you_ , didn't I?" Kaito said, and it was not sharp or biting, but it cut Hakuba off firmly. "He's still alive but he won't be if I don't find him soon. I need your help."

Hakuba took pause at that, the full weight of the situation finally striking. _Not even Kuroba would joke about that._ "I assume you have already informed the police–"

"No," Kaito said, calm about it. "Police movement is exactly the kind of thing that would set them off right now and Shinichi won't stand a chance if they decide things are getting risky. We just need to figure out where they're holding him as quickly as possible. I'll take care of the rest."

Hakuba considered arguing that point – that Kaito was just going to get himself and Shinichi both killed by trying to go this on his own – but KID could do it. He didn't have any doubt about that. And he was confident enough in his deduction that Kaito was KID that he'd bet both Kaito's and Shinichi's lives on it. His mind made up, Hakuba asked, "What do you have to go on?"

"It's a maximum of ten kilometers from the Kakiuchi factory."

Already sitting in front of his computer, Hakuba pulled up a mapping program with practiced ease and laid out a circular area encompassing the potential locations. "That is far too much ground to cover," he said.

"Yes, obviously, or I wouldn't have needed _you._ " Kaito muttered. He'd just reached the roof and he tucked his phone between his shoulder and his ear as he knelt to collect his things. "They sent videos. Proof of life. I was hoping you'd be able to get something from them. I'm sending them now." He let the phone slip from his shoulder into his waiting hand.

Hakuba opened the first of the videos the moment it came into his inbox. He took in the scene silently, jaw clenched, and did not speak until Merlot stepped into the picture.

"They are certainly not amateurs," he said into the phone.

"No," Kaito agreed.

"There is an echo… The dimensions of the room are most likely two and a half by three meters."

Kaito blinked. "You got that… from an echo."

"She spoke while circling. They are not difficult calculations if you know the formulas. There is some guess work involved given the situation, but if my current theory is correct I believe that should be accurate."

"Good," Kaito said, swallowing a strange feeling like appreciation and gratitude. "Great. What else you g–?" He cut off when Hakuba sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth and Kaito could hear through the phone the sound of Shinichi crying out in the video. He stood abruptly and started pacing. "Hakuba, come on."

"…It is definitely somewhere cold. A place that cold… it is probably insulated." His words were slightly hesitant and Kaito froze mid-step.

"So then… how much air has he got?" he asked, straining to keep the panic out of his voice.

"I would not worry about that yet," Hakuba said quickly. "There should be enough oxygen in a space that size to last at least twenty-four hours. Probably longer." He narrowed his eyes at the screen. "There are… at least five of them there with him," he said, watching Shinichi's eyes.

"Five?" Kaito repeated, trying to focus on the information – trying to keep the fear his moment of panic had let in from making him sick.

"I am sure they put him where they did because it was convenient – because it cannot be opened from the inside. The door is very likely closed since there is no light at all. They'll have a fifth man on the outside to let them out when they are done."

"…True. At least we know three of them aren't there anymore though. The woman who's talking and two others. I already met with them."

The video came to an end with Merlot looking down at Shinichi. "You've got twenty minutes to live," she said, and Hakuba paled.

"Twenty minutes?" he said sharply. "Kuroba, how long–?"

"Don't worry, I got an extension. But they'll probably figure out something is wrong soon." His throat felt tight, and he couldn't help wondering if he was making the right choices. It felt too risky. Like he was cutting this way too close.

Hakuba opened the second video, but all he could determine from it was that there were at least four people still there at the site. He let out a sigh. "So all we really know is that he is in a small cold-storage unit somewhere within the given area. That narrows it down to restaurants and possibly certain rentable spaces."

Kaito switched his phone over to speaker, already searching the internet for places in the area that might fit. "If it _was_ a restaurant, it couldn't very well be one that's open right now. It would be way too risky to try to pull this off with customers around."

"And it probably is not a very large establishment if their cold-storage is that small… I would discount any newer buildings as well. Safety precautions do not allow for cold-storage that cannot be opened from the inside anymore."

Kaito nodded to himself as his fingers flew over the screen of his phone, narrowing the results and committing those left to memory. "I'm going out to look," he said, finally taking the phone off of speaker. "Let me know if you think of anything else."

"Kuroba-kun… You _can_ handle this, right? You are certain–?"

" _Of course_."

A slight chill ran through Hakuba at the edged response. Through the entire discussion, Kaito had been, for the most part, steady and calm, but that even a hint of his stress had come through spoke volumes to anyone who knew him like Hakuba did.

"Good luck, Kuroba-kun," he said. He didn't bother offering to help search. He knew he was too far away to make any difference in what little time they had.

"Thanks."

The call disconnected and Hakuba leaned back in his chair, still considering the map on his computer screen. It was, perhaps, the first time Kaito had ever expressed gratitude to him, and, if he had to guess, he'd say that Kaito had meant it. If any small part of him still suspected Kaito of using Shinichi toward some sort of advantage as KID, it was silenced at that moment, and Hakuba sincerely hoped that Shinichi would make it through this, for Kaito's sake as well.

.

"So play nice."

The woman holding the phone ended the recording and the man gripping Shinichi's hair shoved him back down again. Another stab of pain cut through the numbing cold and Shinichi bit down harder on the cloth in his mouth.

He stayed down, too lightheaded to even try to escape. He knew it was useless. There were three of them, and he had nothing on him anymore. He'd already used the belt and his watch, and the suspenders had been left behind. He'd used the tracer button earlier that night to follow Sasagi to the factory, too. He wondered vaguely if the police had found it on the detective's body. If he still had the glasses, he might have been able to determine where he was relative to the tracer, but they'd been left behind as well in the pocket of the blazer he'd thrown off in the alleyway between the buildings.

The door opened and the three Organization lackeys filed out. Shinichi squinted into the light outside of the walk-in refrigerator. He caught glimpses of a small kitchen area with red tiled floor, but nothing that would tell him where he was. Not that the knowledge would help him any, but if something changed… If they slipped up at some point and he was able to get one of their phones…

The door shut again with a muted thud and the whole place went pitch black. Shinichi curled in on himself a little tighter. The pain from his ribs was becoming a dull background sensation, near constant as his shivering continued to aggravate the injury. The cold was foremost in his mind now, even outweighing any concern about the concussion he probably had. The darkness was so complete inside the refrigerator that he could hardly tell how often he'd blacked out, or for how long, but he was fairly certain he was dipping in and out of consciousness because every now and then his body would jerk him awake again. But there was no way to measure time. Just cold and pain.

Shinichi groaned, biting down fiercely again on the gag, and tried to force his mind on to other things. The videos. He knew they were sending the videos to Kaito. It wasn't a particularly comforting thought – he would have preferred that Kaito not have to go through that – but it also occurred to him that a second proof of life must mean that Kaito was holding his own. He smiled just a little and closed his eyes. Whatever else happened he knew, at least, that Merlot and her crew would seriously regret this night before it was over.

.

The sign on the door read "Gas leak: closed for maintenance."

"Well, isn't that convenient," Kaito muttered to himself, staring at it. The bar's few windows were shuttered and left no gaps for prying eyes, so Kaito just picked the lock on the door and slipped inside, not really caring if there was anyone on the other side to see him come in. As it turned out, the place was empty, but he immediately spotted security cameras positioned around the ceiling. He tugged his cap down a little farther and pushed forward, heading past the bar. The kitchen was just around the corner, but there was also a short hallway with a few closed doors… and one that was open – light, cigarette smoke, and the sounds of conversation flooding out of it.

 _Gas leak. Sure,_ Kaito thought, rolling his eyes. He was fairly certain now that he'd finally found the right place, and equally certain that this bar was owned and kept by the Organization as a convenient place to make their black market deals and hold whatever local meetings they needed without drawing suspicion.

Kaito swept into the kitchen, dropping his bag onto the floor, and went immediately for the large metal door of the walk-in refrigerator. He barely paused to check that it wasn't rigged with any alarms or other unsavory traps before wrenching it open. Shinichi was lying inside, but he didn't move – didn't react at all when the door was opened. Kaito stomped down on a rush of panic and dashed inside, kneeling to scoop Shinichi up into his arms. His body was cold, and for half a moment it did not occur to Kaito that that might only be due to the environment he'd been left in. For half a moment, he thought Shinichi was actually dead.

Shinichi groaned quietly into the gag, stirred to something like consciousness by movement and pain and fresh air. He tried to turn but someone was holding on to him.

"Shinichi?"

The air seemed warmer now and he felt the gag come away. He opened his eyes.

"Hey Kaito," Shinichi murmured. Then a wave of vertigo hit him and Kaito's hands were on his shoulders, steadying him where he was propped against the wall.

"Hey," Kaito whispered. "Are you okay?"

Shinichi nodded, the motion small and careful. Okay was an understatement compared to a minute ago.

"Do you know how many are here?" Kaito asked, gently tugging the knot free from the rope around Shinichi's wrists. He took off the black glider cape and tucked it over the shivering detective who shook his head slightly. "Okay. Just wait right here. Don't move."

He touched a quick kiss to Shinichi's forehead and swept out of the kitchen, doing a rushed check of the rest of the building. Then, secure in the knowledge that the only threats left were all sitting in one room, Kaito moved down the hall and stepped right into the open doorway.

"Really, smoking where there's a gas leak? You wouldn't happen to have a collective death wish, now would you?" He was leaning against the doorjamb, the cap shadowing his eyes, and there was no smile. No grin. Just black anger.

There were three men and a woman sitting inside the room around a table, all of them holding cigarettes which were all abandoned when they got over their surprise and went for their guns instead. Kaito was gone before they could even aim them and they didn't realize he'd appeared on the opposite side of the table from the door until he tossed a handful of sleep gas bombs down onto it, gasmask already firmly in place.

"Shit!" one of them hissed, and all four turned to run, but the door slammed shut in front of them, seemingly of its own accord, and similarly refused to open. The woman took a step back and fired at the door handle, but it made no difference and the room was quickly filling up with gas. One of the men made a feeble attempt at shooting Kaito instead, but he missed by a meter and collapsed onto the floor asleep.

Kaito watched them drop one by one before picking his way through them, collecting the guns, and shoving one of the men out from in front of the door with his foot. He stepped out into the hall and shut the door gently behind him, then crouched to deposit the four guns onto the floor. As he straightened, he pulled off the mask, making sure to block his face from the cameras until the cap was back in place just in case the Organization had a live feed. He was being careful. Careful was good. Careful was something to focus on so that he wouldn't think about how easy these people were getting off.

Kaito drew in a calming breath and stepped away from the door but froze a second later. Shinichi was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, clinging to the doorjamb, hunched slightly and clearly favoring his right ankle. Kaito rushed to his side.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he hissed. "Sit down right now!"

"I heard gunshots," Shinichi answered as if that were explanation enough, but he allowed Kaito to help ease him back down to the floor and leaned back against the wall in the hallway. "Are you okay?" Shinichi asked.

"No," Kaito breathed out on a laugh. "I was scared to death. How the hell do you manage to get into these situations?"

"Hey–" Shinichi started, but he cut himself off, wincing, and his arm moved to cradle his injured ribs. Kaito pulled out his phone, tugging off one glove with his teeth, and called the police. "This one was _not_ my fault," Shinichi finished anyway. "Not… entirely at least."

"Shut up," Kaito said and it sounded like a plea.

Shinichi stayed quiet but only because it was probably important that Kaito talk to the police without interruption right now. That was what the logical part of his brain was telling him, but it seemed a little disconnected – a little distant from the rest of him. Mostly, for the moment, he didn't really care. Kaito was there with him and just that fact made him feel _safe_ like nothing else could.

Shinichi slipped a little against the wall and his shoulder bumped into Kaito's, leaning heavily against him.

"Shinichi," Kaito said, dropping the phone conversation mid-word, worry sharpening his voice. "Hey, you with me? Are you okay?" His hand came up to push Shinichi's bangs back as he searched his face, and his fingers brushed lightly over the small cut and burgeoning bruise on his forehead where Merlot had hit him with her gun.

"Yeah, I'm all right," Shinichi answered and Kaito must have believed him because he went back to what he'd been saying into the phone without too much hesitation. It wasn't until a few seconds after Kaito had hung up that Shinichi realized what was actually happening.

"Kaito, how are you going to explain this? Why you're here; how you took them out?" He tried to focus through the throbbing pain in his head and suddenly realized Kaito had called from his own phone, used his own voice, and pretty much told the truth while explaining the situation. "You… Why didn't you lie, or… _something_?" Shinichi demanded, aware that he sounded slightly panicky and feeling stubbornly justified in that.

"…Hakuba already knows I went looking for you," Kaito said.

"Kaito–!"

"It's not proof of anything," he insisted. "I went to find you. I got lucky. Maybe those guys were too drunk to be competent and maybe I'm in shock so I neglect to mention that until it's too late to check if it's true. But if I tried to make it look like I was never here? Hakuba wouldn't go along with that. I'm staying right here until the ambulance shows up and then you and I are going to a hospital because you should not be moving around and doing stupid things like standing up after getting beat up and kidnapped. Now wait here a second. I need to sabotage these cameras and get my stuff so it's not lying around when the police get here."

Kaito pushed himself to his feet and disappeared around the corner. When he returned to Shinichi's side he was empty-handed, but Shinichi had no doubt that everything was taken care of. Kaito knelt next to Shinichi and moved him gently away from the wall so he could slip behind him, pulling him back again to rest against his chest. His arms looped across the front of Shinichi's shoulders and Shinichi realized he would not be moving any time soon. The blush that rose up at the thought of the police finding them like that felt burning hot under his skin.

"Kaito…"

"Shut up; you're freezing." There was finality in the words and in his grip and Shinichi gave up. He had to admit it was much more comfortable than sitting against the wall, though he didn't feel cold in the least anymore. The bar actually felt uncomfortably warm after his extended time locked in the refrigerator, but even so he found he didn't really want Kaito to let go.

"What about Merlot?" Shinichi asked, letting his eyes close as he relaxed into Kaito's hold.

"I took care of it," Kaito murmured. "We can send the police over to pick her up when they get here." He fell silent and just a little too still as he recalled the end of his conversation with Merlot. Gin was still out there, and from what Merlot had said it sounded like he probably knew Shinichi was still alive.

"Kaito… What aren't you telling me?"

Kaito buried his face against the back of Shinichi's neck. "Nothing," he answered. "It can wait. …I love you."

Shinichi smiled, accepting that the words were a distraction and knowing that he still meant them as deeply as anyone could.

"Love you," he murmured back.


	27. Chapter 27

**Case 27 – Influence**

.

" _Your pet project nearly put Merlot out of commission. It seems you were right all along about him. Vodka told me his name. Says we met once before. A long time ago."_

"… _Do you want me back on his tail?"_

" _No. For now, we follow that person's request. But don't worry. I doubt your current assignment will last much longer."_

.

Shinichi stared out at the warm glow of Akasaka Palace's façade. The time mentioned in the notice wasn't for a few hours yet, but already that glow was offset by rotating flashes of red and blue from the police cars around the perimeter of the palace grounds. KID had picked a hell of a place for a heist this time around.

"I see you are doing better."

Shinichi looked around to see Hakuba walking up with easy, measured strides. With all the chaos KID's target had called down, it was nice to see at least one other person who had still maintained his calm.

"I am surprised to see you working heists again so soon," Hakuba added as he came up beside him. "It has only been… five weeks?"

"Yeah," Shinichi said. Five weeks. More than a month since he'd been positively identified by an Organization member, and still no sign of Gin. No hint as to what might be coming, if anything. "But I'll just be observing tonight," he added.

Really, he felt up to more – a few of his ribs _had_ been cracked and the concussion had caused him some problems for a while, but as far as he was concerned he'd already had plenty of time to heal. Still, with the doctor, Division One, task force, and Kaito all insisting he not push it, he found it was easier to just agree.

Hakuba watched him for a few moments out of the corner of his eye. "I have been meaning to ask, Kudou-kun…" he started, and Shinichi immediately picked up on the extra effort he was making to sound conversational. With as much time as Shinichi spent with Kaito, any normal person's attempts at subtlety seemed blatant now. "How did you escape?"

Shinichi's eyes flickered toward Hakuba, but he did not turn, and they moved right back to the palace in the distance. "I don't really know what happened," he answered. "I think I must have passed out at some point. When I woke up, Kaito was there and the police had just arrived." It was the story he and Kaito had agreed on before the police had shown up at the bar that night, in order to make things simplest for Shinichi.

"Well, I am sure getting you out of there was no problem for Kuroba-kun," Hakuba commented casually. "We have all seen what he is capable of as KID after all."

Shinichi sighed. "You're crazy if you think I'm going to support this 'Kaito is KID' theory of yours, Hakuba-kun."

"You of all people cannot deny the evidence–" Hakuba started quickly but Shinichi cut him off.

"You mean the coincidences?"

"Kudou-kun, you are a detective. How can you not–?"

"Because he's _not KID_ ," Shinichi insisted. "I spend an awful lot of time with him; I think I'd notice. Besides," he added on a whim. "Kaito wouldn't lie to me."

That stopped Hakuba in his tracks. He stared at Shinichi and Shinichi stared back, fighting to keep a straight face. Thankfully Hakuba looked away after only a few seconds, shaking his head slightly.

 _How could Kudou not see it?_ he wondered. _How could Kuroba so thoroughly deceive someone so close to him for so long? But they do say love is blind…_

Still, nothing about the situation sat well with him. He excused himself and headed off toward the police line and Shinichi leaned his shoulder against the rough bark of a nearby tree. That particular lie (and he knew it was a lie) might turn out to be his most valuable defense. Hakuba had looked a bit like he _pitied_ Shinichi, and Shinichi was fine with that if it meant Hakuba would stop asking him about it out of some misplaced sense of guilt.

"Kaito, you are such a bad influence," he sighed to no one in particular, and he was not all that surprised to hear a cheerful, mischievous "I know~!" from somewhere in reply.

.

"Well?" Kaito breathed out as he ran up to where Shinichi was standing a good distance off from the palace. His face was flushed with excitement and exertion, and he was beaming. "What did you think? You never get to just sit back and enjoy the show, so I made sure tonight's would be entertaining."

Shinichi smiled and very carefully kept his distance from Kaito. There was just something about that after-heist energy and glow that made it far too tempting to do something he might regret – in public anyway – and that temptation had gotten a lot harder to deal with over the past few weeks. "It _was_ very impressive," Shinichi allowed, distracting himself. "Though I'm sure you woke up half the surrounding neighborhood, and you scared that French dignitary so much he ran off. I had to track him down and convince him to come back."

Kaito was pouting suddenly and Shinichi sighed. "I didn't miss the show," he assured him. "He didn't take off until the end. Did you really disappear in an eruption of blue fire or did I translate what Cayla-san was saying wrong?"

"I might have gotten a little carried away," Kaito admitted, all smiles again.

"What about your target?"

He gave a little shrug. "Not it. Still have it though. I thought I'd mail it back this time. It's been a while since I did that."

Shinichi saw Kaito's eyes flicker off to the side suddenly, and a ripple of tension passed through him before he relaxed again. He met Shinichi's eyes briefly and Shinichi read each detail as, "There's someone headed this way, but it's not a threat."

Sure enough, Hakuba came into view a few seconds later and walked up to them. His hair was a shocking shade of green that Shinichi thought might actually be glowing before Hakuba stepped into the circle of light around the nearby lamppost.

"Green is an excellent color on you, Hakuba," Kaito said cheerfully.

The flat look Hakuba leveled at him said that he was about as far from amused as he could possibly be. "Why you insist on pulling this particular prank on me time and again–" he started.

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything to you. Not today anyway. I'm just appreciating the good humor of another master magician." He grinned and Hakuba snapped back, "If you are not KID then why are you _here_?"

"To watch the show of course," Kaito replied. "What kind of fan would I be if I never came to see any of KID's heists?"

Hakuba was apparently not in the mood to give up easily. "But if you were here the whole time, why were you not with Kudou-kun earlier?" he argued.

"Because _apparently_ I'm a distraction," Kaito said in a very convincing imitation of annoyance, shooting an irritated glance in Shinichi's direction to complete the act. Shinichi shrugged it off.

"I didn't come here to mess around, Kaito. We've talked about this. I'm not going to stop chasing KID."

Kaito waved a lazy hand in what looked like surrender. "I know, I know."

Hakuba was watching the two like a cat in an aquarium, but the exchange had been so natural that it left little room for doubt. Hakuba had never needed much room, though, when it came to KID and his civilian counterpart. "Kuroba-kun, could I talk to you alone?" he asked, somehow dredging up the energy and patience to be polite again.

"No," Kaito answered.

"Kaito," Shinichi scolded.

"Ugh, _fine._ "

Hakuba stalked off a little ways from Shinichi, instantly ruffled again by Kaito's rude reply, and Kaito reluctantly followed. As soon as they were out of earshot, Hakuba rounded on him, his expression grave, and stated, "I cannot believe you are doing this to Kudou-kun."

"…Doing what, exactly?" Kaito asked slowly, this time in honest confusion.

"You should not be lying to him like this."

"Lying to him? Seriously, what are you talking about?"

"I cannot believe you would not at least tell _Kudou-kun_ that you are KID. He trusts you, you know. That seems like a poor way to repay him."

The earnest stare Hakuba had fixed him with was enough to make Kaito at least attempt to stop himself before he burst out laughing in Hakuba's face.

"Geez, don't be so dramatic," Kaito finally managed through residual chuckles. "I'm not leading some secret double-life behind my lover's back. This isn't a soap opera."

Hakuba blushed faintly, caught off guard by Kaito's choice of words, but he still narrowed his eyes at him. "I do not think this is funny, Kuroba-kun. You should not keep secrets like that from–" He cut himself off abruptly and sighed. "Look, I know it is none of my business and Kudou-kun can take care of himself, but you really should consider confiding in him, at least. And if you cannot trust him, then maybe you need to think a little more seriously about that as well."

Kaito blinked at him, sobering slightly at the gravity of Hakuba's concern, but he still brushed it off with a wave of his hand and commented lightly, "Not bad advice, if I were actually KID. Now, if you don't mind, it's been a long night and Shinichi should really be resting." He turned and headed back toward Shinichi, and Hakuba took his leave, rolling his eyes. But his comments had not been completely lost on Kaito, who had ended up stuck somewhere between amused and guilty given that Hakuba had seemed genuinely concerned for them both. Overall, though he wasn't about to admit it, Kaito was left feeling just a little bit better about Hakuba's and Aoko's relatively recent official "couple" status. _...Even if he is still a bastard,_ Kaito thought.

.

"Hey, what did Hakuba-kun want to talk to you about?" Shinichi asked as he followed Kaito into his bedroom later that night.

Kaito scoffed. "I think he was trying to protect a fellow detective from the big bad phantom thief," he said.

"What?"

"He's just a little bit concerned that I'm lying to you about being KID." He couldn't quite keep the amusement out of his voice or the smirk off of his face, guilt long since faded.

"Of course," Shinichi sighed, shaking his head a little as he started on the buttons of his shirt.

Kaito yanked his own shirt off over his head and tossed it over by the wall, pawing through a clump of clothing on the foot of the bed to find something comfortable to sleep in. "I just love how he's _so convinced_ that I'm deceiving you and that you're so innocent in all this."

"Right," Shinichi laughed. "While the truth is that you've completely corrupted me." He spotted the pair of pants Kaito was looking for draped over the desk chair and tossed them over to him.

"That is not even _close_ to the truth and you know it!" Kaito protested, turning from the bed to snatch the pants out of the air. "Corrupted you. Honestly," he said in an affected murmur.

"What, you don't think so?" Shinichi asked, smirking.

"No I do not," Kaito stated emphatically. He'd somehow already changed his pants and Shinichi laughed a little to himself. "I think you've always had a certain disregard for some rules," he continued. "And that has _nothing_ to do with me. I mean really, from what I've seen you'd make a surprisingly good criminal, Shinichi," he said matter-of-factly.

"Is that so? Well, coming from the Kaitou KID I suppose I should take that as a compliment, but as I recall, phantom thieves are pretty territorial, isn't that right?" He very suddenly moved into Kaito's space and Kaito took a few steps back, narrowly avoiding hitting the bed.

"It is…" he agreed slowly, watching him.

Shinichi moved with him until Kaito's back was against the wall. "So… are you feeling threatened?"

Kaito smirked at him. "Threatened" really wasn't the first thing that came to his mind with Shinichi – dress shirt open, belt gone, and pants undone – backing him into a wall. "Of course not," he answered in a low purr, easing subtly forward against him. "You think some greenhorn wannabe thief could hold a candle to the great Kaitou KID?"

Shinichi just shrugged. "You have a point." He leaned in for a kiss but stopped just short of Kaito's lips, and Kaito's eyes blinked open in startled surprise when a pair of handcuffs suddenly locked his wrists behind his back. "But I'm no greenhorn wannabe thief," Shinichi said, still close against him. "I'm a detective and I've been watching you for a long time now. Is it any wonder I've picked up a few tricks?"

He finally eased back and Kaito stared at him, his face quickly going pink. "Wow, are you actually speechless right now?" Shinichi laughed.

Kaito suddenly lunged forward, the cuffs now dangling from one wrist as he threw his arms around Shinichi and kissed him. Shinichi staggered back a step but managed to hold his ground, and he reciprocated enthusiastically.

" _Finally,_ " Shinichi breathed, exasperated, when they broke apart. "You've been treating me like I'm made of glass ever since the run-in with Merlot."

"You were hurt, Shinichi," Kaito said, but his voice was faint and his eyes were hazy and Shinichi knew it was a perfunctory argument. "And she's still–"

"I'm _fine._ " Shinichi pushed him back against the wall again and moved his attention to Kaito's neck. Kaito's fingers gripped into the shoulders of Shinichi's shirt and Shinichi reached up to pull one of Kaito's hands away and pin it to the wall, playing idly with the cuffs still hanging from his wrist. "I swear, one of these days I am _going_ to figure out how you do that," he murmured, his voice rough.

Kaito shivered, but even breathless and flushed, eyes closed and clinging to Shinichi, he still managed to smirk.

"You keep telling yourself that, Tantei-kun."

.

 **Author Note:**

Kaito: Shinichi, where did you get those handcuffs?  
Shinichi: I found them lying around.  
Kaito: I guess I do tend to accumulate them, don't I XD

Akasaka Palace is designated as an official accommodation for visiting dignitaries in Tokyo.

I definitely got this up later than I was expecting to. Got _so_ distracted. Sorry about that. Next chapter is called "Family" aaaaand it's probably not what you're thinking... I am not sorry about that XD Please look forward to it~!


	28. Chapter 28

**Case 28 – Family**

.

"So did everything go well at the palace the other night?" Chikage asked, smiling into her webcam and holding her mug of coffee between both hands.

"Of course," Kaito replied coolly. "Like I'd have let anything go wrong."

"Of course," Chikage agreed, sipping carefully. "You've certainly never made a mistake and landed in the hospital with a broken leg. Or a gunshot wound. Or your eyebrows burned off."

"Kaa-san!" he complained.

"Even phantom thieves can't be perfect, Kaito," Chikage said, grinning. "That's why the illusion is so important. And you've done a wonderful job. You really have."

Kaito threw himself against the back of his chair, slouching and crossing his arms with a sour expression. "You don't have to patronize me," he muttered.

Shinichi wandered into the kitchen and paused to lean over Kaito's shoulder when he saw the laptop on the table. "Good morning, Chikage-san," he said.

"Oh, good morning Shinichi-kun. Are you being good to my boy? He's something special you know," she said with a hint of warning. "Don't you forget it. You better appreciate him."

Kaito let out a groan and covered his face with a hand. "Kaa-san, what the hell are you talking about?"

Shinichi just smiled, glancing over at Kaito with soft eyes, and answered, "I do, Chikage-san." He pressed a quick kiss to the side of Kaito's head and wandered off to find something to eat.

"Geez, okay, enough of this. I'm gonna get going, Kaa-san. Talk to you later." He reached for the keyboard to close out the window but stalled at Chikage's next words.

"I love you, Kaito," she said. She was still smiling serenely on the screen and Kaito's expression softened just subtly.

"Love you too, Kaa-san."

The screen went black and he closed the laptop and sat back heavily again in his chair. Shinichi sat down across from him, a piece of toast balanced on top of his empty mug as he waited for the coffee to brew.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kaito sighed, still staring down at the laptop. "I think it's just… Kaa-san gets kinda weird around this time of year. I think Oyaji was into big romantic gestures. Christmas Eve comes around and she misses him, y'know?" He grabbed his computer and took it from the room and Shinichi frowned down at his toast. He'd come to learn that whenever Kaito got that sad smile on his face, there was nothing at all that Shinichi could do about it.

Kaito was gone just a little longer than it would have taken for him to put his computer away, but when he came back the shadows were gone from his eyes. Still, Shinichi didn't miss the extra scoop of cocoa Kaito added as he made his own drink.

"Hey, Kaito," he said, getting up to go to the coffee maker, though it was more of an excuse to move to the counter so he could see Kaito's face out of the corner of his eye. "Let's go to your mom's for Christmas."

"Hey, in case you've forgotten, you and I have _plans,_ " Kaito said, pointing his spoon at Shinichi. "Big ones. No heists, no murders, and no side-trips."

Shinichi smiled at him. He hadn't forgotten – how could he when Kaito had been talking about it for the last month? "Not Christmas _Eve_. Christmas."

Kaito turned and leaned back against the counter, sipping quietly at his overly chocolaty cocoa. "Yeah…" he said, trying not to get his hopes up. "That could be nice. I'll see what she thinks." He smiled over at Shinichi and took a bite of toast and Shinichi blinked and looked down at his empty hand.

"Hey!"

"Finders keepers!" Kaito called out, dashing around the kitchen table to avoid Shinichi's swipe without spilling a drop from his mug.

"But you found it in my hand!" Shinichi shot back, but he'd already given up, grabbing for the bag of bread on the counter instead. He dropped a few pieces into the toaster and when he turned back, Kaito was sitting cross-legged on one of the chairs, grinning widely at him with the piece of toast clamped between his teeth. "Remind me again why I spend so much time hanging out with a thief," Shinichi said.

"Stole your heart," Kaito replied, perfectly straight-faced, waving the toast as he shrugged. "Hey, what about _your_ parents? Where are they at these days?"

"Last I heard they were headed for Australia, dodging Tou-san's editors." The toast popped up just as Shinichi finished pouring himself some coffee and he saw Kaito move out of the corner of his eye, leaving his mug behind at the table to head over to the counter. Shinichi snatched up the toast and hurried for the sitting room and was not at all surprised when Kaito followed after him. Kaito's piece of toast was already gone and Shinichi had no doubt the thief had designs on the new pieces. "You know," Shinichi added, hoping to distract him a little. "They mentioned going to Hawaii again last time I talked to them, but I bet they'll be swinging by soon."

"Geez _finally_ ," Kaito said and Shinichi took the opportunity to take a large bite of toast, distantly recalling a time before breakfast was a strategy game. Though, before Kaito, breakfast wasn't something interesting enough to really be awake for, so it was a bit of a blur. "I swear, your family is so weird," Kaito was saying and Shinichi could feel the mini-rant coming, so he felt safe enough to take a sip of coffee and another bite. "I don't understand how you think this is normal. I mean, you literally haven't seen your parents in over a year. I wanna meet them already!"

Shinichi just shrugged. "More than a year and I still think you're insane," he said, turning away a little so Kaito wouldn't see him smiling.

"Yeah?" Kaito grinned. "You gonna leave me for Hattori?"

"Would you stop!" Shinichi half laughed as he turned back again. "Hattori is not in love with me!"

"He really is though~!" Kaito seemed to have given up on pillaging the toast. Instead he turned and threw himself down on the couch and folded his hands behind his head.

Shinichi was distracted from his internal victory celebration when his eyes were drawn to the little sliver of skin where Kaito's shirt had ridden up.

"Hey…" he said, leaning over the back of the couch and balancing his toast on his mug again to free up a hand. "What the hell is this?" He reached over and pushed Kaito's shirt up farther to reveal a patch of rainbow glitter brushed across Kaito's hip.

Kaito winked, grinning, and raised a finger in front of his lips. "Shh, Tantei-kun. It's a secret. I'm testing something out. Wanna make sure it's not permanent or dangerous before I try it on my task force, you know?"

"So you tested it on _yourself_?" Shinichi said, cringing.

"I'm reasonably certain it's safe."

Shinichi straightened up and finished off the toast before taking a pensive sip of coffee. "…But this was definitely not on you last night," he said, thinking back. "When did you–?"

"Woke up before you," Kaito said with a shrug. "Got bored."

"Don't you _ever_ sleep?"

"I _did_ sleep!"

Kaito laughed as Shinichi muttered something about crazy nocturnal magicians and wandered off into the kitchen. When he came back, he had Kaito's forgotten hot cocoa and he nudged Kaito over on the couch so he could sit close beside him, leaning back into Kaito's side and handing the mug back over his shoulder. As he settled in, Kaito's arm came to rest around his shoulders.

"So," Shinichi said. "This glitter thing… How concerned should I be?"

"Depends," Kaito answered, and Shinichi couldn't see his face but he could hear the grin in his voice. "Concern for me or for poor unsuspecting detectives and task force officers?"

"The second one," Shinichi said firmly. "If you grow a third arm or die of some freak allergic reaction it'll be your own damn fault."

"In that case, very, _very_ concerned~"

Shinichi just rolled his eyes and went back to his coffee. No, breakfast was certainly never boring anymore.

.

"How could someone who works with chemicals and low grade explosives all the time be _this bad_ at cooking?" Shinichi asked the morning of the 25th, determinedly keeping his distance from the counter where Kaito was working, and focusing only on the dough he had rolled out on the table.

"You have to be careful with chemicals," Kaito replied. "You don't have to be careful with food. It's _food_!"

"You ever had food poisoning?" Shinichi asked, wry.

"Yes," Kaito said with a shudder.

"You have to be careful with food." Shinichi gave up on staying away, too concerned not to, and came up beside Kaito just as he was lowering the mixer into the bowl of ingredients. "You've got this set way too high," he pointed out.

"It is not; look–"

"No, wait–!"

Kaito flicked the switch.

.

"We brought pie!" Kaito announced by way of greeting as he and Shinichi stepped in out of the cold later that night and toed off their shoes. Chikage poked her head out into the hallway and grinned at them.

"Hello, you two!"

She ducked back into the kitchen and Shinichi just barely managed to catch Kaito's coat as he slipped out of it and bounded off after her. "Merry Christmas!" he heard Kaito proclaim as Shinichi hung up the coats and followed after with the plastic shopping bag containing two carefully stacked homemade pies. He set the bag on the kitchen table and pulled them out.

"What kind are they?" Chikage asked, leaning over the table slightly to inspect them with the same childlike glint in her eye that Kaito tended to have when regarding sweets.

Kaito grinned. "Lemon and chocolate."

"Not together," Shinichi clarified.

"I'm telling you it would have been fine!" Kaito instantly replied.

"It would have been a disaster," Shinichi said patiently.

"A lemon and chocolate pie?" Chikage asked.

"Kaito's idea."

"What about those chocolates with the lemon cream inside?" he argued. "Those are delicious; it would have been like that!"

"Those are made with _dark_ chocolate, Kaito," Shinichi said.

"So? We could've used dark chocolate."

"See _this_ is the problem. You didn't have a recipe; you just said 'let's combine them.'"

"What's wrong with that?"

"You boys didn't have to go to all the trouble of making these," Chikage said, her hand covering a little smile that said she was all too pleased that they had anyway. "And Shinichi-kun, you're still recovering–"

"Not you too, Chikage-san," Shinichi pleaded. "Six weeks. It's been six weeks and a day. Even the doctor says I'm fine. Clean bill of health. Honest."

"It's true," Kaito agreed around a spoon in his mouth, surreptitiously pushing the refrigerator door closed behind him with his foot.

"I know," Chikage admitted, a little sheepish about it even as she herded Kaito away from the fridge and around to the opposite side of the kitchen table. "It just concerns me to think you have such dangerous people after you, Shinichi-kun."

"They're the same people who are after _me_ ," Kaito pointed out. "But I don't see you getting all concerned over _that_. Certainly doesn't stop you from requesting heists now and then to clean up your own loose ends," he teased, grinning.

"But Shinichi-kun isn't a phantom thief," Chikage insisted. "Poor Yukiko-chan, she must be so worried."

"Shinichi can take care of himself," Kaito countered before Shinichi could get a word in, moving to stand at his side as if in support. "And when he can't, he's got me."

Shinichi decided to stay quiet after all, hoping to not draw attention to the blush that was as embarrassing as the conversation that had caused it.

"Well, I'm just glad things turned out okay this time. And that this group at least was caught." Chikage turned from them to tend something in the oven and Kaito and Shinichi exchanged glances behind her back. Neither of them bothered to correct her. After Shinichi had been taken to the hospital that night, the police had gone to the parking garage to arrest Merlot and her men, but all they'd found were cut ropes on the ground around the bike rack.

Merlot and her crew were long gone.

.

Aoko, Nakamori, and Jii joined them for dinner that night, and Shinichi fervently thanked whatever good fortune had Hakuba spending Christmas in England with his own family rather than tagging along with Aoko. While the gathering had been far from quiet, it had at least been peaceful – something Shinichi attributed with full certainty to who was and was not present, given that Kaito seemed to have an overabundance of energy that could easily have been put to more destructive use than the little magic tricks he kept pulling at the table. Shinichi kept one eye on him the whole time, hiding smiles behind his hand or his glass. Really, Kaito had been acting that way ever since the day before, and Shinichi kind of loved that just the anticipation of their Christmas Eve date had made Kaito that happy.

When dinner was over, the group moved to the sitting room but Chikage almost reflexively went to the sink to take care of the dishes. That was when Kaito appeared beside her in a puff of smoke and ushered her out of the kitchen with a gentle but insistent hand at her elbow.

"Now, now," he chided when she opened her mouth to protest. "Since when do we do things by the book in this house? Let's make it more interesting." He snapped his fingers as they came up beside the coffee table and a deck of cards appeared in his hand. "Gather 'round!" he called out. "We're going to build a house of cards! First one to make it fall has to do the dishes." He winked at Chikage and threw a quick grin in Shinichi's direction that told him this was not a game Chikage was likely to lose. A wry smirk twisted Shinichi's lips up at that. Maybe Kaito's intentions were good in that he didn't want Chikage to feel obligated to do the work as the hostess, but the game was also one that Kaito was sure not to lose as well.

Shinichi wasn't the only one to realize what the outcome would be. "Okay, then let's move the furniture some so we can all get around the table on even ground," Aoko suggested, and while everyone started on that job, she snagged Shinichi's arm and yanked him into the hallway.

"Okay Shinichi, what are we gonna do about Kaito?" she whispered urgently, glancing around the corner at where Nakamori and Kaito had each picked up an end of the couch but couldn't seem to agree on the best direction to move in. "You _know_ he's so sure he's not gonna get stuck with the work and it's our job to even the playing field. What do you think? Maybe a fishy distraction?" she said, already opening an internet browser on her phone to pull up an appropriate picture.

"No," Shinichi said, pushing the phone back down with a sympathetic smile. "I agree with the concept but it's not any fairer to use Kaito's phobia against him. You know he can't help it."

Aoko flushed a little. "Well what, then? He's never gonna mess up on his own; nothing cracks that 'poker face' of his," she said, complete with eye roll and finger quotes.

"Not… _nothing_ …" Shinichi said slowly, his hand going to his chin. Then a gleeful, wicked grin came to his face, along with a faint blush. "I think I have something that'll work," he said. "Just leave it to me."

.

"Okay, I think we're all set," Kaito declared, smoothing a thin cloth over the surface of the low table. "Everyone gather 'round!"

Everyone came to sit in a close circle around the table and a deck of poker cards was suddenly arching back and forth between Kaito's hands. "I'll explain the rules," he said, paying the cards no mind at all as he moved his hands to make the stream curve and wiggle as it went. "First: you have to add at least one card to the structure each turn. If you choose to add more than one, you have to add them all at once – no setting cards then going back for more." He suddenly brought his hands together, the deck stacked neatly between his palms. He set it on the table and drew three cards, then leaned forward, balancing them against each other all at once in something of a pinwheel shape. "Got it?"

Shinichi lips twitched with a silent, dry laugh. _Yeah, sure._

"At least one of the cards you add has to be touching the existing structure–" He laid a card flat over the standing trio. "And you can bend or curve the cards, but you can't crease them." He built up a few more examples and continued adding cards, creating a stable base layer as he added, "You can't touch the table, cards, or other players when it's not your turn. Other than that, anything goes~! You guys ready?"

"Ah, so, we're starting with the base already made?" Shinichi asked.

"Yeah. Getting started is the hardest part and it's no fun if it falls down before we really get anywhere. This way's a little easier if you just wanna add a card here or there." He grinned and Shinichi regarded him with a hard smile and narrowed eyes.

 _You arrogant bastard; that's like saying you expect us to screw up right away._

The fact was, though, that Kaito was right. The existing structure allowed those with little to no experience like Nakamori and Shinichi to set a card here or there without too much trouble. Aoko, Shinichi noted with some suspicion, was no amateur, and he could imagine her and Kaito as children playing this same game often enough.

After a few rounds, some near misses, and some meaningful looks from Aoko, Shinichi resolved himself and leaned over during one of Kaito's turns, careful, as instructed, not to touch him or the table. He whispered something next to Kaito's ear just as the magician was about to place a pair of cards and Kaito's face suddenly went bright red.

"Sh-Shinichi!" he stammered, turning startled eyes to the detective beside him. His cards folded on top of the others, skidding into one of Nakamori's less stable placements, and the whole thing abruptly flattened on the table with a crisp flutter. Shinichi's face had gone a bit pink, but he, Aoko, Jii, and Chikage were all laughing as Kaito huffed, crossing his arms and pouting while Nakamori blinked in shock at the sudden turn of events.

"Fair's fair, Kaito," Aoko declared. "Looks like you're on dish duty!"

"It's true; he didn't break any rules," Jii agreed with a grin.

"Right, right!" Chikage cheered. "You did say anything goes."

"Traitors, all of you," Kaito muttered. "Especially you, Shinichi. I won't forget this."

"Yeah, yeah," Shinichi said, his face finally cooling. "Don't you have dishes to do?"

Kaito elbowed him, but there was a smile behind his eyes as he got up and headed for the kitchen. "Play another round and send someone in to dry. I refuse to suffer alone," he called back as he went.

Chikage swept up the cards and shuffled them with something of a flourish. "I think that's fair," she said with a quirked smile. "I'll get us started, shall I?"

.

Nakamori eventually toppled the new house and was sent off with something of a resigned grumble to help Kaito, but he didn't actually know where any if the dishes went, so Aoko ended up helping anyway. Chikage, Jii, and Shinichi joined them in the kitchen to make coffee and hot chocolate for everyone. They laughed together as they all dodged around each other and Shinichi wondered if this was what it was like to have a normal, functional family.

 _I mean, sure,_ he thought with a little smirk as a pot slipped out of Nakamori's hands and landed with an exaggerated splash in the sink, dousing himself and Kaito both in dishwater and earning an exasperated scolding from Aoko. _The Kurobas are a family of phantom thieves and Jii-san is their undercover assistant and Nakamori-keibu has no idea he's spent most of his life chasing them around, but still… it works._ He tossed a dry kitchen towel at Kaito's head as he passed behind him to get the milk and cream from the fridge and they shared a playful, momentary glance before Kaito overheard Aoko asking Chikage for a mop. Things fairly descended into chaos from there, but it was still one of the best Christmases Shinichi could remember.


	29. Chapter 29

**Case 29 – Tradition**

.

"So, am I gonna get to kiss you at midnight this year?" Kaito asked. He was standing on his kitchen table, swiping a rag haphazardly around the light fixture on the ceiling.

"If you want," Shinichi answered with a shrug from where he was standing on the counter, dragging another rag across the top of the cabinets. "Not like you don't just kiss me whenever you want to regardless." He crouched down and hopped to the floor then glanced up at Kaito. He was still flailing ineffectually at the light. "You suck at this," Shinichi laughed, and Kaito threw the rag at him.

"If you're gonna complain about _how_ I clean, you can do it instead," he said, hands on his hips. Shinichi rolled his eyes and stepped up onto one of the chairs before joining Kaito on the table.

"I'm just saying, you might want to get an actual ladder or something one of these days." He reached up and unscrewed the light cover, pulling it down and wiping it off. "Anyway, why are you so hung up on that western tradition?" Shinichi asked.

"I'm not really," Kaito said. He shifted his weight subtly, almost unconsciously, to balance the table as Shinichi reached back up to replace the light. "I only brought it up last year to get a rise out of you, but after you said no, well, now it's just the principle of the thing."

"We were at your mother's house," Shinichi pointed out, his tone flat. He sat down on the table and slid off of it.

"So what?" Kaito laughed, jumping down as well. "She wouldn't have cared."

"It's embarrassing, Kaito," Shinichi sighed. _Or it was at the time,_ he thought. Things like that didn't bother him quite as much anymore – something he'd attributed to spending entirely too much time with somebody who had little to no respect for personal space – but at the time they hadn't been going out all that long, and it was his first time meeting Chikage. He wasn't about to do something like that in front of her then.

"Well how 'bout this year then?" Kaito persisted. "Kaa-san's in Paris and your parents are… still in Australia, right? It's just the two of us, so why not? Come on, Shinichi~! For me?" His eyes widened to match the pleading tone and he leaned in hopefully, his bottom lip just subtly puckered in a pout. Shinichi put his hand over Kaito's I'm-too-cute-to-say-no-to face and shoved him back lightly.

"Who _else_ would it be for?" he laughed. He caught just a flash of Kaito's grin as he vanished and reappeared at Shinichi's other side.

"For you, of course," he purred, instantly switching from cute to seductive as he smirked and offered Shinichi a deep red rose from nowhere.

"Kaito,"

"Yes?"

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"You're turning up that phantom thief charm," Shinichi said, rolling his eyes despite the faint, traitorous smile pulling at his lips.

"Hmmm~? You only ever call me out on that when it's _getting_ to you. So, will I be getting that kiss after all?" The grin returned and Shinichi folded his arms and shifted away slightly in an attempt to appear unfazed.

"Seems like a lot of effort when all you're angling for is a kiss."

"Maybe I intend to let the kiss do the rest of the convincing~" Kaito suggested.

Shinichi smirked at him. "You seem pretty sure this will go your way."

"With good reason, I think," he said with a smile, and it should have sounded arrogant but all Shinichi could pick up from him was an almost overwhelming sense of confidence. And somehow it was confidence in _Shinichi_. He was suddenly aware of just how warm his face felt, and how Kaito had never stopped meeting his eyes. He blinked and edged back slightly, turning to busy himself with shoving the chair he'd pulled out back under the table.

"Just help me with the cleaning or we won't even finish by midnight."

.

"I hate this thing; the balance is completely messed up," Shinichi complained as Kaito devolved into fits of laughter again beside him. There was a target set up at the end of the upstairs hallway and a good number of cards were sticking haphazardly out from the edges, along with a few in the wall behind it.

"It's not messed up, it's just different!" Kaito stole the card gun from Shinichi's hand and fired off a shot in the same motion without so much as glancing at the target. The card struck dead center. Shinichi threw a dark glare in his direction.

"Look," Kaito said, handing the gun back. "You're trying to brace for a kick this gun doesn't have. It's throwing off your aim."

Shinichi looked down at the card gun skeptically. It had always felt extremely strange in his hand – the weight and balance and trigger resistance all just _off_ to him. He raised it again, not really sure why he was bothering, and Kaito let out a quiet groan.

"Would you stop?" he said, tapping the back of his hand against Shinichi's two-handed grip on the weapon. "You're so serious; I think _that's_ the real problem." Another second and Kaito had the gun again, spinning it in his hand before firing off another three shots, all one-handed and fluidly casual. He tossed the gun back to Shinichi.

"Hm," Shinichi murmured. "Now that I think about it… I don't think I've ever seen you fire this thing two-handed." He shifted his grip, and raised the gun again, letting his left hand rest at his side. It felt even _stranger_ , but with a resigned sigh he aimed and pulled the trigger. The card clipped a corner of the target then fell pathetically to the floor. Shinichi's free hand came up to meet his face with an embarrassed sort of whine.

Kaito was laughing again and Shinichi shoved the gun into his hands. "That's it; I'm done," he said firmly.

"Maybe you should stick to soccer balls, huh?" Kaito snickered as the gun vanished in a puff of smoke. He glanced at his watch. "Oops. Hold that thought."

Shinichi looked over at him, eyebrows creased in confusion, and saw Kaito eyeing him with a sidelong, scheming look. "What–?" he managed, but the words fell away when Kaito stepped up to him, close enough that their bodies brushed together, and Shinichi very suddenly remembered Kaito's request from earlier in the day.

A bell tolled somewhere and Shinichi was certain Kaito had never had a clock that tolled like that before, and equally sure he'd set it up for dramatic emphasis at some point, and that he had purposely distracted him until this moment so that it would be all the more effective. And that was as far as his brain got before Kaito's hand was resting lightly on his cheek and his lips were warm and soft against his, gentle and careful and _just enough_ that Shinichi wanted more. And he knew with that same certainty that Kaito had calculated that as well, but he didn't even care because, as proud as Shinichi was, he wanted Kaito, and that want was enough to block out anything else until he was lying on his back in Kaito's bed, Kaito draped over him, and both of them breathless.

"That was an _amazing_ way to start the new year," he murmured, grinning as he ran a lazy hand down Kaito's back.

"Think we should make it a tradition?" Kaito breathed, smirking with his cheek pressed to Shinichi's chest, his eyes just barely open.

"Yes," Shinichi answered firmly and Kaito laughed, his breath warm on Shinichi's skin.

"You know, they say what you do on New Year's is supposed to set the trend for your whole year."

"God, I hope so."

Kaito suddenly pulled himself up, easily finding space on the mattress between Shinichi's limbs for his hands and knees, and he looked down at Shinichi with an all too familiar, energized smile. "Let's go to the clock tower, Shinichi. We can watch the first sunrise!"

"You're crazy," Shinichi laughed, just lying under him and rather content not to move.

"Of course I'm not; there's still plenty of time to make it there before sunrise," Kaito reasoned.

"How do you still have so much energy?"

Kaito shrugged a little. "I can't help it. I just feel _good_ , y'know? Come on," He shifted over carefully and slid off of the bed, holding his hand out to help Shinichi up. "Let's take a shower at least."

Shinichi gave in with a sigh and a small smile, taking Kaito's hand and dragging a sheet along with him to cover himself as he was pulled out into the hallway and into the bathroom.

Admittedly, the warmth under the stream of the shower did feel good, and Shinichi closed his eyes, letting the water run over his face. A little shiver ran through him when Kaito's fingers trailed feather-light over his hips.

"Geez, I'm sorry. I didn't even realize–"

"Huh?" Shinichi looked down and saw the faint red marks on his own skin matching up with Kaito's fingertips where they rested on his hips. The smile that came to his lips at the sight was entirely too smug. "I'll take it as a compliment," he said. "It's good to know that even you can… lose yourself a little sometimes."

Kaito hummed his agreement, a quiet smile on his face, and his hands moved slow and soothing to the small of Shinichi's back and up across his back and shoulders. Shinichi's eyes quickly closed again and he took an unconscious step back. Kaito was there to meet him, supporting him as he continued to rub gentle circles into Shinichi's skin.

"I'm not gonna make it to the tower if you keep that up," Shinichi murmured distantly, sinking into the feeling.

"We don't really have to go to the clock tower if you don't want to," Kaito laughed. He was surprised when Shinichi turned to face him, meeting his eyes, strangely earnest, and said, "No, we should go."

A brighter smile crept onto Kaito's face. "You sure?" he asked.

Shinichi turned again to duck his head back under the water. "I'll probably fall asleep in the car." He pushed his hair back with both hands and glanced back at Kaito again. "But I'm up for it if you're sure you're awake enough to drive."

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Kaito laughed.

.

Shinichi and Kaito were bundled up, tucked close against each other on the ledge of the clock tower as the sky began to lighten to grey.

"Hm, looks like we won't be able to see the sun come up after all with this cloud cover," Shinichi murmured. He was pretty sure he was too tired to really care though.

"That's all right," Kaito said. "It's enough that we're here." Shinichi glanced over and was surprised to see Kaito grinning at him. "After all," he added. "It was here that we first clashed as thief and detective. And it was right here, waiting for the sunrise, that you first kissed me."

"D-Don't bring up stupid stuff like that!" Shinichi stammered, looking away to hide the blush all across his face.

"It's not stupid!" Kaito replied. "I waited forever for you to make the first move for once. That night is one of my favorite memories."

"Y-You never said anything about waiting for–"

"Of course not; that would defeat the whole point. It had to be your decision after all, not something I pressured you into," Kaito said with a shrug.

"…What?" Shinichi's eyebrows pulled down, skeptical. "But _you_ would kiss _me_ all the time! And you hardly ever ask. How is that different?"

"It's different," Kaito stated. "I'm pretty good at reading people, Shinichi–"

Shinichi scoffed.

"But it's not the same as _knowing_... how you really felt. Until that night… I don't know; I guess I always wondered a little if you were still undecided."

"Then why didn't you just ask?" Shinichi said with all his adorably clueless reasoning.

Kaito smirked. "I guess I'm just a coward. You don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to, right?"

Shinichi stared for a few moments as Kaito returned his eyes to the grey sky laid out before them. Then something clicked. "No way… You're actually bad at this, aren't you?" he said.

Kaito looked back at him. "What?"

"Dating. You're actually bad at dating like everyone else, but you just blind people with charm and confidence so they can't tell." Shinichi grinned, the expression fairly impish, and Kaito's face turned a faint pink.

"Maybe keep that deduction to yourself, huh?" he muttered with definite petulance and Shinichi shifted smoothly from impish to haughty.

"It's none of anybody else's business," he said. "Unless you plan on dating anybody else any time soon."

Kaito laughed out loud. "I think I'll stick to what I'm good at," he conceded, and he reached a hand up to Shinichi's cheek to guide him gently into a kiss.

The sun broke the clouds shortly after and the white light of morning fell onto the water in the distance, sparkling across the surface.

"There, see?" Kaito murmured smugly. "Some things are worth waiting for, even if you're uncertain."

Shinichi just rolled his eyes. "Happy new year, Kaito," he sighed with a smile, and he pulled him a little closer to his side as the first light of the new year washed over them both.

.

 **Author Note**

Off-season New Year's fluff whooooo!

This would have been posted much earlier, but between work wiping me out and my computer waking itself up in the middle of the night to "upgrade" (read: "destroy all of my setting with vindictive glee") it just didn't happen. Foo.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the fluffy interlude. Next week, things get a bit more intense again~ The next chapter is called "Responsibility". Please look forward to it~!


	30. Chapter 30

Warnings for this chapter include murder, bloodshed, and possible undue stress to the reader. Also fluff… *shrugs*

.

 **Case 30 – Responsibility**

.

" _Do you have news for me, Cognac?"_

" _No. Snake seems to be playing it safe lately. Said the last heist was too high profile so we didn't get involved."_

" _Hn. He's learned some caution then. Too bad it's probably too late."_

" _Any action?"_

" _Not yet. I got one last piece to take care of and then the mess that punk detective made will finally be cleaned up. Until then, just keep your head down."_

.

It was with some surprise and curiosity that Shinichi followed the sound of the piano into the great room in the back of the Kudou manor to find Kaito sitting at the white baby grand. His fingers moved gracefully across the keys and Shinichi blinked in disbelief at the flawless melody pouring out into the room. Shinichi had made a valiant attempt to teach Kaito how to play but had ultimately decided that pianos were probably too linear for Kaito. He tended to get bored and distracted and just didn't seem to have the patience for it. He'd told Kaito as much and suggested something more three-dimensional, like the organ, but since Shinichi neither had an organ nor knew how to play one himself, the topic had just sort of been dropped. But apparently Kaito had kept at it on his own and made some progress.

Shinichi stood quietly for a short time, just listening, but eventually he set his backpack down beside Kaito's by the wall and moved to the tall hutch in the corner, kneeling to shuffle through the sheet music in the bottom cabinet. Extracting a few pages, he walked up behind Kaito and set them out on the music shelf. Kaito's fingers paused on the keys as he glanced over them.

"It's a duet," Shinichi said, nudging Kaito over on the bench to sit next to him. "Do you wanna try it?"

Kaito laughed a little. "Those kids'll be here any minute," he said. "We should probably get ready to go."

Shinichi cast a doubtful glance at the coat Kaito was already wearing, and another glance over his shoulder at the floor. "Isn't that your backpack right over there? It sort of looks like you're already ready to go. So?"

Kaito's face developed a distinct pout and Shinichi leaned forward to get a better look, blinking innocently at him as Kaito muttered, "I'm not… I never really bothered to get the hang of sight reading the music. I just sort of memorized a few songs."

Shinichi laughed and settled back again while Kaito huffed indignantly. "Okay," he said. "Then what've you got? Anything I'd know?"

Kaito threw a slightly suspicious glance his way but brought his fingers to the keys again and started playing. Shinichi listened quietly for a few measures then joined in with a simple harmony in the next octave down.

"Showoff," Kaito murmured with a smirk, elbowing Shinichi's arm lightly. He abruptly switched to another song and Shinichi's fingers paused on the keys, but only for a few seconds before he joined in again with an appropriate accompaniment. "Okay, how 'bout this?" Kaito said, both challenge and amusement in the words. He jumped down an octave, stealing the keys Shinichi had been using and shuffling him over slightly on the bench. Shinichi just grinned and persisted, playing on the next octave down, and they both should have seen it coming as the notes continued to get lower, but Shinichi didn't quite realize in time when he was out of space on the bench. He tipped off of the side with a yelp but hooked Kaito's arm on his way to the floor, yanking the magician down with him and overturning the piano bench with a painfully loud clatter.

"Ow," Shinichi laughed, only half serious as he extracted an arm from under Kaito to shove at his shoulder. Kaito seemed to be laughing too hard to move for a few moments, but when he pulled himself together a little he was able to get his hands and knees on the floor and take his weight off of Shinichi.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes watering a little from some combination of laughter and his collision with the floor.

"Yeah," Shinichi answered, grinning back at him.

Finally quieting somewhat, Kaito leaned down to touch a quick kiss to Shinichi's cheek, but Shinichi turned his head to catch Kaito's lips with his own.

It was about that moment that the Junior Detective League walked into the room. Ayumi gasped, her eyes glimmering and her hands clasped together in front of her chest, looking positively delighted while Haibara cleared her throat loudly.

In the time it took Shinichi to register the children's presence, Kaito had already bolted to his feet and taken several steps back from him, nearly tripping over the overturned bench in the process. Shinichi sat up and had to hide a smirk at the sight of the great Kaitou KID standing awkwardly beside the piano with his face bright red. It took the edge off of his own embarrassment to see Kaito looking that flustered.

"Hey you guys," Shinichi greeted as he pulled himself back to his feet. "We didn't hear you come in."

"Obviously," Haibara said through a smirk, her arms smugly crossed. Beside her, Mitsuhiko seemed to be looking tactfully up at the ceiling while simultaneously attempting to disappear into his scarf, pink-faced. Genta was just staring.

"What were you guys doing on the floor?" he asked.

Shinichi let out a nervous laugh as he gathered up the sheets of music that had scattered when they fell. "Nothing," he said. "Kaito is just _really_ bad at piano."

"Hey! I'm still learning!" Kaito argued, finally unfreezing somewhat and heading over to grab his backpack from the floor.

"You do realize you're supposed to be a role model for the Junior Detective League, right, Kudou-kun?" Haibara said. Shinichi's cheeks went a shade darker but he didn't respond, busying himself with righting the piano bench. "I think it would be best if you don't follow his example in this case," she added, turning to Ayumi. "Or in general, really."

Ayumi blinked back at her, puzzled. "Why not? They were just kissing," she said, and it sounded entirely too reasonable. Haibara's eyebrows went up a little, but she smiled, looking fairly satisfied while all of the boys in the room seemed to undergo an embarrassment relapse.

"You're right, Ayumi-chan," she said. "Come on; let's give the boys a moment to pull themselves together. We can wait by the car." Ayumi just shrugged and followed Haibara back to the front door.

Kaito had already gotten himself back in hand. He hooked Shinichi's backpack and swung it over to him and he caught it, both of them hurrying off after the girls. "Come on, Mitsuhiko, Genta, we don't want you to miss your train," Shinichi said, and the two boys shook themselves from their distraction and ran after them, out to Kaito's car.

.

"So we're all in agreement," Mitsuhiko said in an energetic whisper, leaning in close with Genta and Ayumi.

"Is that right?"

They all froze as Haibara walked up behind them on the train platform, hands on her hips.

"And just what are you all agreeing about over here without me?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, Haibara-san–"

"It's that man over there," Ayumi said, pointing subtly to an old man in a business suit waiting for the train a little ways down the platform. Haibara glanced over at him and her eyes lingered for a few seconds.

 _He looks… Have I seen him somewhere before…?_

"We overheard him talking to these two guys in black and it sounded pretty suspicious," Mitsuhiko said.

"They were definitely making a deal. They gave him that briefcase – I bet it's full of drugs!" Genta whispered.

"I say it's probably full of money to pay the guy off for information," Mitsuhiko added.

Haibara had mostly stopped listening. "The two men in black… What did they look like?" she asked, fighting to keep the weakness out of her voice.

"One was kinda stocky, with sunglasses," Ayumi provided, missing the fear on Haibara's face as she tried to recall the details of the men. "And the other one had really long hair–"

"Which way did they go? Did you see?"

She didn't wait for them to form the words. All three of them had looked toward the exit and Haibara took off running.

She found them heading down a stairwell inside the station, otherwise empty since no trains had pulled in recently, and heard the deep, familiar voice even before she saw them.

"Like I said, that contact is no longer useful, so it won't be an issue."

Her legs folded and she sank to her knees, but she managed to peek down around the railing and saw just a glimpse of the black hats and coats. A flick of long, silvery hair. She pushed away from the railing, backing across the floor until her back hit a wall, her whole body trembling.

For a long few seconds, she didn't move. Then she heard the announcement for the train.

 _No… No!_ She pushed herself to her feet, stumbling a little on shaky limbs as she ran back toward the platform.

"Where's Ai-chan?" Ayumi murmured to Genta and Mitsuhiko. The three kids were standing beside the open train doors, looking around for their fourth member as passengers stepped around them to board. "Wait, there she is!"

Haibara sprinted onto the platform just as the kids got onto the train, all waving her over and shouting out for her to hurry.

"No!" Haibara called back. "All of you, get off of that train!"

But the warning tone was already ringing and her voice was drowned out. The doors closed and the train pulled slowly away.

Haibara froze on the platform, too stunned for a few seconds to move. Then she snatched the badge off of her shirt and pushed the button. "Is that man on the train?" she demanded. "Did the man with the briefcase get on that train with you?"

" _Ai-chan, I'm so sorry; we didn't mean to leave you behind!"_ Ayumi's voice said through the speaker.

"Never mind!" Haibara shouted. The few people still on the platform all looked over at her warily and she lowered her voice to an urgent whisper. "Just– Look around and tell me if that man you were watching is on the train." Her eyes darted around the platform frantically and she spotted a women's restroom nearby. Dashing inside, she made her way to the last stall and crouched down against the wall, pulling out her cell phone and opening her contacts even as Mitsuhiko answered, _"Yes, he's here. What's wrong, Haibara-san? Did something happen?"_

.

Shinichi and Kaito were in the car heading to campus for classes after dropping off the kids when Shinichi's phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and quirked an eyebrow at Haibara's name on the display.

"Haibara, what–?" he said as he answered but he cut off quickly at Haibara's panicked voice on the other end.

"–to me, you three, you have to stay away from that man. Get as far away from him as possible, do you understand me?"

"Haibara," Shinichi tried again, louder this time, and Kaito glanced over in concern at the urgency in his voice. "What's going on?"

"Kudou-kun, I saw him," Haibara said, her voice hushed and quivering. "Gin was here."

" _Gin_?"

Kaito's eyes flashed over to him again, and he was already looking for somewhere to pull over.

"They were meeting an old contact but they're going to kill him. I don't know how but they let him get on a train. Those kids followed him–"

Shinichi stiffened with a feeling like ice plunging into his stomach. "Did he have a package with him?" His voice sounded distant to his own ears and he swallowed dryly. "A briefcase maybe?"

"…It's a bomb," Haibara whispered. "Isn't it, Kudou-kun." She could hear Shinichi instructing Kaito to call the police. "Those kids got on that train and it's going to explode," she finished, resigned.

Shinichi almost dropped his phone as Kaito pulled something of a reckless, one-handed U-turn even as he dialed 110 on his own phone and put it to his ear.

"That's not going to happen," Shinichi said firmly, his voice now overlapping with Kaito's as he reported the threat, and Haibara's as she clutched the Junior Detective badge again and said decisively into it, "Listen to me, you three. Get as far from that man as possible and find an attendant. Tell them there's a bomb on the train."

Shinichi twitched a little, uncomfortable with the idea of telling the kids exactly what was happening, but he also knew that it was their best course of action. They might still have time to stop the train and evacuate it, after all. He tried to calm himself a little as he overheard Mitsuhiko reply through the badge, _"A-All right."_ After years of this, it seemed the Junior Detective League knew better than to question instructions like that.

"Don't let anyone else hear you," Haibara added. "People would panic if they knew. Just keep it quiet." There was a drawn out silence in reply and she clutched her knees a little tighter to her chest. Shinichi had also gone quiet over the phone, waiting for the kids to provide them with an update, but she could still hear Kaito's voice – a murmur in the background. She jumped a little when Mitsuhiko's voice came through again.

" _It's the briefcase, right, Haibara-s–?"_

Sudden, staticky feedback cut him off and a beat later a fierce, thunderous crack of sound reached Haibara, muted by the bathroom walls but no less powerful, reviving her fear in an instant and setting her trembling.

"Haibara?" Shinichi's voice called from the phone. "What's going on?"

Sounds of commotion were seeping in from the train platform now and Haibara pushed herself up on unsteady feet. The phone and badge were still in each of her hands, but she ignored them both as she ran out of the bathroom, dodging around the taller adults outside so she could see down the tracks. Black smoke was rising in the distance.

"Haibara! Haibara, answer me already! What the hell is going on?"

Haibara's jaw clenched and numbly she raised the phone to her ear again. "Kudou-kun… It already went off."

"…What?"

"The _bomb_ , Kudou-kun. It went off. I can see the smoke from here. The train–"

"How far out was it from the station?"

"…Kudou-kun–"

" _How_ _far_?" Shinichi demanded.

Haibara glanced up at the station clock. "…Maybe four minutes," she answered.

In the car, Shinichi closed his eyes, calculating. They sprang open again a moment later in realization. "Kaito, gimme the phone," he said, and Kaito handed it over. "A bomb has gone off on an eastbound passenger train out of Beika Station," he said into it. "You're going to need rescue teams on the site, and you should close off the road that crosses Tsuruno Bridge as soon as possible. The explosion may have damaged it – it might not be stable." He stayed on the line only long enough to receive confirmation that action was being taken, then hung up, ignoring the emergency dispatcher's request for his name and location. They were coming up on the train station again and Shinichi brought his own phone back up to his ear. "Haibara, are you still there."

"Yes."

"We'll be at the station in a minute. Can you meet us out front?"

"...Yes."

.

When they pulled up outside the station, they saw Haibara glance around carefully before running out from the shelter of a shadowed alcove, up to the car. She wrenched open the door and jumped into the backseat and Kaito sped off again almost before the door was closed.

"You should stay in the car and keep your head down," Shinichi said, glancing back at her as she fumbled to get her seatbelt latched with shaky hands. "Just in case _they_ come around. But give me the badge. It might come in handy."

"What are you planning to do?" Haibara asked, handing the badge up to him.

"What do you think?" he replied, and he ignored the quick look Kaito gave him.

"…I've been calling them, but… there's no answer," she warned. Shinichi didn't acknowledge her.

Kaito drove the car up onto the grass of an embankment near Tsuruno Bridge and threw it into park, already getting out. Shinichi cast one more glance back at Haibara.

"Stay here," he said again as he opened his door.

"Of course; I'm not stupid," Haibara replied. "…Try not to do anything reckless, Kudou-kun," she added.

"It'll be fine," he said, brushing her off. He swung the car door shut and ran off down the slope of the embankment after Kaito.

.

It was worse than he'd imagined. He'd thought there was a chance the bomb might have exploded near enough to Tsuruno Bridge to cause some damage, but he'd never imagined it would go off directly beneath it. He could only make out two or three of the train cars amidst the fallen chunks of concrete and rubble, and there was barely enough grass visible to determine the skidding path of the derailment leading down from the tracks and into the river that ran alongside.

"Shinichi," Kaito called, and Shinichi hurried over to where an SUV was lying on its side near the wreckage, the frame somewhat crumpled from its tumble from the bridge. Kaito had already climbed up on top of it and was working the misshapen door loose.

"Hey, are you all right?" he said, reaching down into the car to rouse the driver, his eyes darting over the deflated airbags and the seatbelt pushed tight into the young man's coat.

"Ugh… What…?" came the slurred reply.

"I need you to focus," Kaito continued, his tone calm and easy. "What's your name?"

"Uh… Sekiya…"

"Okay, Sekiya-san. Can you hang on to me? It's not safe here." His eyes flickered up toward the damaged bridge then back down again to focus on the driver. "I'm going to undo your seatbelt and pull you out. Can you hang on?"

"…Yeah. Yeah, I can… I can do that."

Kaito nodded and reached in again, and it took a few tries but he managed to release the damaged lock on the belt, and Sekiya was holding on tight, so he let it retract and carefully helped pull the man up onto the side of the car with him.

"You're doing great. Same thing again. You hold on to me and I'll lower you down to the ground, okay? Shinichi's gonna help you, so be careful about how much weight you think you can support and let him help. You got it?"

Sekiya nodded, a little more determined now, and Kaito helped him slide slowly down the roof of the vehicle to the ground where Shinichi grabbed on to him, supporting him with the man's arm slung over his shoulders. Kaito leapt down easily, and, without a word, he and Shinichi lifted Sekiya between them and carried him a short distance upriver to get him clear of the damaged bridge and debris.

"I'm… I'm fine," he insisted, but both Shinichi and Kaito ignored him.

"Stay right here and try not to move," Shinichi told him. "The rescue team will be here soon. They'll take care of you."

Sekiya blinked up at them from where he was laying in the frosted grass, confused before he processed that these two random strangers were just that – random strangers. Not emergency workers as he had automatically assumed. "Um, thanks," he said, but Shinichi had already taken off toward the wreckage again and Kaito just offered a grin before dashing after him.

"What've you got?" Kaito asked, coming to a stop beside Shinichi who was staring up at the mound of rubble.

"Nothing good," he said. The train cars were sideways, one set of windows against the ground and the other covered completely by fallen pieces of bridge. He knelt near the end of the last car and ducked his head down to try to see around the broken chunks of concrete. "…Even if we could move this, I'm not sure we could get in there this way," he said.

"Better not chance it," Kaito called, his voice slightly distant. Shinichi straightened up and looked around. "Come here."

He followed Kaito's voice around the wreck and saw him standing on very edge of the riverbank, pointing into the water. "Look. If there's more than one car submerged down there and they're all still linked, this rubble might be the only thing keeping the rest of the train from getting dragged under. We better wait for the rescue team. They'll have equipment to handle this."

"…You're probably right." Shinichi pulled the Junior Detective badge from his pocket and stared down at it for a few long seconds before pressing the button. "Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, Genta… Are you there?" There was a drawn out silence and Kaito moved closer to Shinichi, not speaking, but keeping near to him.

Then there was a crackle of static from the badge. _"Shinichi-oniisan?"_

"Ayumi!" Shinichi let out a shaky little laugh. "Are you okay? Genta? Mitsuhiko?"

" _I'm okay,"_ Ayumi answered, though her voice seemed unsteady.

There was a bit more static, then Genta's voice came through. _"I'm… I'm okay."_

Relaxing somewhat, Shinichi let out a sigh of relief before pressing the button again. "Mitsuhiko?" There was silence for too long and all of his tension returned in full force. "Ayumi, are you all together? Where's Mitsuhiko?"

More silence, then finally Ayumi answered, _"He's here but… he won't wake up."_

It was easy to hear the tears in her voice and Kaito moved away to do another examination of the train, searching for some way inside.

"Okay," Shinichi said into the badge, making an effort to keep his voice level and calm. "It's gonna be okay. Can you tell me about his breathing? Does it seem normal?" It was the closest he could come to asking if he _was_ breathing.

" _I… I think so,"_ Ayumi answered. _"It's so dark… and cold."_

"I know, but don't move around too much. We're going to get you out, okay?"

Kaito returned to his side then with a slight, somber shake of his head.

"…Ayumi," Shinichi said into the badge again. "Can you tell me anything more about Mitsuhiko's condition? Is he bleeding or hurt anywhere?"

" _No, but… the train attendant lady… she's bleeding a lot…"_

"Is she still breathing?" Shinichi asked.

" _Y-Yes."_

"Okay. That's good. Can you tell where she's bleeding from?"

" _I think it's her leg."_

"…Okay. Take a look around for me, but be careful. Do you see anything that can be tied around the wound?" The kids had all been wearing scarves when they'd dropped them off at the station, but it was cold, and they were likely in shock, so he listened and hoped for another option.

" _We couldn't find the first aid kit,"_ Ayumi told him with hardly any pause.

"That's okay. Be creative. Tell me what you see."

There was silence for a short time, then Genta's voice came through again. _"We found a computer bag! It's gotta have cords in it!"_

"Those would be tough to use… Is there any–?" He paused, eyes a little distant for just a moment, then asked quickly, "The bag. Does it have a shoulder strap?"

" _Uh, yeah."_

"Good. They're usually adjustable, and it might even have clips on the ends that can be removed from the bag."

" _It does!"_ Ayumi reported. _"…I've got it!"_

"Good. Is the lady conscious? Can I talk to her? Is there anyone else there with you?"

" _No… And the lady… She won't wake up either,"_ Ayumi said, her voice quickly losing the strength of the excited ambition she'd gained just by having a job to do.

"Okay. That's okay. Can you guys help me out? We're gonna try to stop the bleeding."

" _Yes!"_ Ayumi answered quickly, and Shinichi smiled a little.

"Okay. First, is there enough space to lay her on her back?"

" _She is,"_ Ayumi said immediately.

"Good. We don't want to move her any more than we have to. Now, do you see a loop on the shoulder strap? The part that you pull through the plastic piece when you want to shorten it?"

" _Yes!"_

"Great. Make that loop big and put her leg through it carefully. Genta?" He paused and waited and Genta's voice came in again.

" _Uh, right. I'm here."_

"Genta, I need you to get the loop right above her wound and tighten it. Pull the plastic piece down as far as you can and hold it tight."

" _M-Me?"_

" _I can do it, Shinichi-oniisan,"_ Ayumi said quickly.

"No. Genta is stronger. We need to apply as much pressure as possible to stop the bleeding. …Can you do it, Genta?"

There was what felt like a long silence and Shinichi was about to ask again when Ayumi reported, _"Okay, it's on tight! Genta-kun's real strong!"_

Shinichi's smile strengthened a bit. He doubted she was aware of it, but Ayumi tended to know just what to say to motivate Genta and Mitsuhiko.

" _What next, Shinichi-oniisan?"_

Before Shinichi could answer, there was a muted groan of metal and the train shifted just slightly, enough to cause some of the smaller pieces of rubble to tumble down, knocking loudly against the outside of the train.

" _Wh-What is that?! Shinichi-oniisan, there's this noise–!"_

"It's okay, it's just some–"

He cut off abruptly, flinching as a larger piece of concrete suddenly broke free of the bridge, landing almost directly on the SUV and knocking it back onto its wheels with a metallic screech.

"Shinichi, come on, we shouldn't be standing here," Kaito said, throwing a quick glance up at the ruined remains of the bridge. He grabbed Shinichi's arm but Shinichi didn't move. He was staring into the river. "What…?" Kaito looked down into the water as well and saw bubbles coming up near where the train was submerged.

Ayumi was calling for him through the badge again but Shinichi thrust it into Kaito's hands so he could pull off his coat and shoes. "There might be an opening down there. I'm gonna go check. Wait here for me, okay?"

Kaito caught Shinichi's arm again, firmly this time, and held him back. "Let me know what you find before you do anything," he said. He glanced at his watch. "Ninety seconds. If you're not back up here for air before then, I'm coming in after you, got it?"

Shinichi just smiled a little, clicking on the light on his own watch. "I'd appreciate that," he said. "I don't intend to be down there long." Sucking in a tense breath, he sat down on the bank and eased himself into the freezing water. His next breath shuddered with the cold, but he ducked under the surface all at once and disappeared.

The first thing Shinichi noticed when he opened his eyes under the water were the two cars resting among the chunks of concrete at the bottom of the river. Without thinking he kicked downward, swimming up to the windows of one and then the other. Both vehicles had long since filled with water and the passengers had not escaped. And he had known even before he'd gone to look that there was no chance anyone still down there could be alive. It had been too long since the explosion – since the sudden collapse of the bridge that had dropped the cars into the river below.

He pushed away from the vehicles, anger roiling in his chest, and turned to the train, trying to focus on the task at hand. _There's only one train car down here,_ he thought, turning his light onto it. _The lead cars were probably blown free. Probably derailed on the bank downriver, past the bridge. But from what Ayumi said…_

An involuntary little cough released a trickle of bubbles in front of him and he immediately kicked for the surface not far above. He broke through easily, shivering as he caught his breath again.

"What's it look like?" Kaito called to him from the bank.

"G-Gimme a sec," Shinichi called back. "There w-was… N-Never mind. I n-need to take a closer l-look. I'll be right b-back." He dove under again without waiting for a reply and headed straight for the end of the submerged train car. It was warped and blackened, its door sitting crooked in the sideways frame. Shinichi pushed against it experimentally and it scraped free, falling slowly open into the vestibule without much effort. He turned his light inside.

 _The car's resting at an angle,_ Shinichi thought. _Part of it is above the surface, and if the connections to the other two cars are still passable we can make it inside pretty easily. Okay…_ He pushed off from the bottom of the river and resurfaced, swimming over to the bank where Kaito was waiting.

"There's definitely a w-way into the submerged car," he said, his breath coming in short little puffs of white. "And maybe into the other t-two from there."

"I'm coming with you," Kaito said, already shedding his coat and shoes. "Hey, Ayumi-chan," Kaito said into the Junior Detective badge. "Can you still hear me? Shinichi and I are right outside the train. Just hang in there. We'll come get you."

" _Really, Kaito-oniichan?"_

Kaito grinned. "Yeah, but we won't have the badge with us, okay? Don't worry; help's coming soon."

" _Right!"_

He tossed the badge over with the coats and shoes on the riverbank and quickly lowered himself into the water beside Shinichi. " _Dammit,_ that's cold," he huffed out, taking in a shuddering breath.

Shinichi pushed away from the bank. "Let's go. F-Follow me."

He dove under once more and Kaito followed him down and through the open doorway, up into the water inside the car. They broke the surface again inside, fumbling in the dark to find handholds to pull themselves up the incline toward the connection between the cars. Shinichi's watch was the only light, and he turned it toward the mostly sideways doorway ahead of them. The sliding inner door had fallen open, and the heavy outer door at the junction of the cars was open as well. Beyond it, Shinichi could hear murmurs of voices, and there was a faint flicker of light. But then Kaito grabbed his shoulder.

"Shinichi," he said sharply, and Shinichi turned back, the light passing just briefly over Kaito. His face was grim, and he was pointing down at the water they'd only just climbed out of. Shinichi turned the face of the watch slowly over the surface and saw them – three dark silhouettes bobbing in the cold water. His jaw clenched tightly.

"…Stay right here," he told Kaito. "It's too dark to be moving around much. I'll check." He crept carefully down the incline of the train again and back into the water, and with each body he checked, more anger filled him. Anger and frustration and guilt that no logic or reason could ever quite conquer because, as far as Shinichi was concerned, Gin was his responsibility – the one most dangerous case he hadn't yet been able to solve. Now, with the three victims he'd found in the sunken vehicles outside and the three dead within the submerged train car, Gin's body count was only growing. He had no idea how many had been in the same car as the bomb, but there was no way any of those people could have survived either.

Shinichi pushed away from the old woman he'd been examining and made his way back up to Kaito, though a little clumsily. His fingers were numb, his body not moving quite how he wanted it to, but the cold all through him had become somewhat muted in his mind, held back by the way his heart raced fiercely at just the thought of Gin – the thought of facing him down once and for all someday and finally seeing the bastard brought to justice.

"Hey."

Shinichi started slightly when Kaito's hand closed on his arm. He was scrutinizing Shinichi's face in the faint glow from the watch, pointed again into the passageway between the cars.

"You all right?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah," Shinichi sighed. "Let's go."

Kaito nodded and took the lead, climbing over the edge of the sideways doorway and ducking into the vestibule to move through to the next car. Shinichi followed close at his back, aiming the light ahead of them as they finally emerged onto level ground, carefully keeping to the window frames under their stockinged feet to avoid the cracked panes.

"Where did _you_ come from?"

There was a cluster of people, mostly standing toward the center of the car, several of them holding cell phones with lights directed down at a smaller group of passengers – some seated and some laying across the backs of the long bench seats. A young man was crouched beside one of them, carefully examining a bad cut on a middle-aged woman's forehead.

 _Everyone seems calm, for the most part,_ Shinichi noted with some surprise. But they also didn't seem to know how to react to the two drenched young men who had just entered the car.

"I could have sworn we got everybody," a round, balding man in a soaking wet business suit murmured, eyeing Shinichi and Kaito in the light a preteen girl had turned on them.

"They _said_ help was coming," she told the man.

"I figured they meant coming to unbury us," another passenger commented. "How did you get inside?" he asked them.

"We're not part of the rescue team, but they _are_ on their way," Shinichi said.

"We heard people were hurt," Kaito added once he'd finished taking in every detail he could of the dark compartment. "There should be three kids here. Has anyone seen them?"

"Kids?" The young man who had been tending to the injured passengers straightened up and nodded toward the submerged car behind them. "You came through there, right?" he asked. He looked somewhat grim as a light passed over him, and Shinichi noticed the watermarks halfway up his pants, and how the ends of his rolled up sleeves clung to his skin, probably from pulling any of the seven people there who were just as soaked as Shinichi and Kaito out of the water in the other car. "There was–" he stared to say, but Shinichi cut him off.

"He wasn't one of them," Shinichi told him, and he felt Kaito stiffen beside him with the realization that one of those bodies he'd just glimpsed in the darkness had been a child.

"Is there anyone in the last car?" Kaito asked, grasping for something else to focus on.

"A few of us came from there," someone said. "The windows in that car were blocked so we were hoping we could get out through here but…" Everyone glanced up at the dark windows above them. "We didn't see anyone else back there though. But we didn't exactly go poking around the rubble either."

"Rubble?" Shinichi asked.

"A piece of the bridge broke through the windows in there…"

"We've sort of had our hands full here and I figured we shouldn't move around too much if we could help it but… you think there could still be people in there?" the young man asked Shinichi and Kaito.

Shinichi glanced over the group again, all pulled in close to share what little light and warmth and level ground they could. The more seriously injured among them were gathered in the middle with the young man, who, Shinichi was fairly certain, had been the one to take control of the situation and keep everyone calm.

"No, you're right," Shinichi said. "You seem to have a good handle on things here. We'll check out the last car."

The man looked Kaito and Shinichi over again, but then he nodded, and everyone shuffled a little to help them through to the other side of the car. Kaito took the lead again, and he and Shinichi climbed through, emerging into the last compartment.

"Ayumi?" Shinichi called. "Genta?"

"Shinichi-oniisan?"

The hopeful call had come from the very back of the car where light flickered, but the children were nowhere to be seen. There was a metal guard rail – a piece of the bridge – ahead of them, one end against the ground and the other through the empty frame of the window above. Piled around it, both above and below, were chunks of fallen concrete and Shinichi and Kaito both moved immediately to climb over the debris toward Ayumi's voice.

The three kids were there, right at the end of the car behind the rubble, and Kaito was at Genta's side in a moment, gently guiding the boy's hands from the strap around the train attendant's leg and pulling it tight himself.

"It's all right, Genta. You did a really great job. I'll take over from here, okay?" he said, and Genta let him, dropping back to sit down with a loud, relieved sigh.

Shinichi fumbled with the strap of his watch with cold fingers and unhooked it, taking it off to hold it between his teeth so he could point the light down and still use both hands to carefully check Mitsuhiko for injuries. Ayumi, who had been holding on to Mitsuhiko to keep him a little warmer, let go to allow Shinichi to take him, and wordlessly turned her own watch to give him more light. There was blood all down Mitsuhiko's back and in his hair, but really, it was impossible to tell whose it was. The train attendant was lying across the back of the sideways bench seat and her blood was everywhere – a clear dragging pattern from the guard rail to where she was lying now, and a pool of it smeared around with children's hand- and footprints. Mitsuhiko had probably been lying right near her before Ayumi had moved him so she and Genta could try to stop the bleeding. He tried not to think about just how much the woman must have lost, but if Kaito's concentration on his task was any indication, she wasn't dead yet. She might have a chance.

Shinichi moved his fingers carefully across the back of Mitsuhiko's head and thought he felt an abrasion, but it was difficult to tell.

"It's okay," he told Ayumi, who had been sitting silently, watching Mitsuhiko, hoping he might still wake up. Shinichi turned his light near her and saw blood smeared on her skin and clothes. Certainly not hers, but there was also a small cut on her forehead. "You okay?" he asked.

"Ayumi is fine!" she answered immediately.

"She got knocked out."

Shinichi looked up. Genta had shuffled over near them and was looking somewhat disgruntled.

"Is that true, Ayumi?" Shinichi asked gently.

"Well yeah but–"

"Shinichi-oniichan is trying to help," Genta said, crossing his arms and looking superior. "Don't act tough."

"But you said you got knocked out too, Genta-kun!" Ayumi shot back at him. "When you woke me up!"

"Now who's acting tough?" Kaito laughed.

"It's fine," Shinichi soothed, smiling a little. "We're gonna get you all out of here, but you need to promise me you'll be honest with the doctors when you get to the hospital, okay?"

"Yes," Ayumi and Genta chorused, drawing the word out a little.

"Good. You three just keep close and try to keep warm, okay? I'll see about getting this door open."

Shinichi eased Mitsuhiko back into Ayumi's arms and stepped carefully around them and Kaito to get to the end of the car where he clambered through to the last vestibule that was the very end of the train. The outer door was shut tight and the handle wouldn't turn. He'd expected as much. The door would be locked to keep anyone from opening it while the train was in motion.

"Kaito," Shinichi called, climbing back into the passenger compartment. "I'll take over here. Go check out the door." Their eyes met and Kaito nodded, handing the strap on the attendant's leg over to Shinichi and disappearing into the vestibule. Seconds later, they felt a cold breeze pass into the car.

"What's it look like out there?" Shinichi called, not taking his eyes from the train attendant's chest, monitoring her breathing.

There was a slight delay, then the entire outer door passed through the inner doorway into the passenger compartment. Kaito propped it up against the wall and climbed back into the compartment. "No good. It's open–"

"Obviously," Shinichi commented, glancing at the displaced door.

"But there's rubble piled up against the train. It won't budge. What's taking that response team…?"

"They'd need to stabilize the bridge before they can get at this half of the train. It wouldn't be any better for people to get killed by falling debris while they're trying to help."

" _Now_ you say that," Kaito muttered, rolling his eyes.

There was a sudden crash that shook the train and Kaito rushed forward, pushing Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta closer together and shoving their heads down as he tried to cover them, his eyes flickering up to the cracking windows on either side of the guard rail that had already smashed through.

"Kaito, the vestibule!" Shinichi said sharply. Kaito glanced back and understood immediately.

"Got it!" He picked up Mitsuhiko. "This way, you two," he said to Ayumi and Genta. "Get into the vestibule. There's no windows in there."

The sound of glass breaking and rocks falling and people screaming carried through suddenly from the other car, and people started spilling through the doorway into the last car in a rush.

"Dammit," Kaito muttered. He carefully laid Mitsuhiko down again inside the vestibule. "Ayumi-chan, I need to borrow your badge."

"Uh, r-right," she said, shivering in the colder air coming in from the open door to the outside. She pulled it from her shirt and handed it to Kaito who moved to the doorway and whistled, sharp and loud. A few moments later a dove appeared at a small gap in the rubble in front of the door and wriggled through to flutter down into his hands. He held it close, stroking its feathers gently and whispering to it as he showed it the Junior Detective badge. Then he raised the bird up to the hole again and it wriggled out and flew away. He turned back to the kids.

"Stay here," he said firmly. "Do not leave this vestibule, okay?" Then he ducked back into the passenger compartment. "Shinichi–"

"We're fine here," Shinichi said. He looked up at the window above them. The glass was already gone from it, and the rubble covering it looked stable. Kaito nodded and edged around to the other side of the guard rail.

"Hey, is everyone in from the other car?" he asked the crowd of passengers. The young man who had been helping the others was just climbing through into the compartment.

"We lost another two in the collapse," he said, his voice tight and strained. "They're dead."

Kaito didn't react. "These windows might not last much longer either," he said. "I need as many of you as can fit to stand in the vestibule you just came through. It's the safest place until we get the exit cleared."

"You found a way out?" a lady asked.

"Yes," Kaito said firmly. "We just need a little time. Anyone who doesn't fit, go to the vestibule at the other end of this car," he instructed, pointing. "And anyone who doesn't fit there will need to stay close to this guard rail here. It's our best bet."

"Kaito, grab that guy for me," Shinichi called from the other side of the pile of rubble in the train.

Kaito looked over at the young man. "He means you," he said, nodding him over to where Shinichi and the train attendant were. The man moved forward, only slightly hesitant, as Kaito started directing the rest of the passengers. "Come on, everyone into the vestibules, let's go."

The man clambered over the broken bits of cement and moved immediately to Shinichi's side when he saw the bleeding woman.

"You're an EMT, right?" Shinichi asked.

"Uh, a nurse actually," he said. "My name's Ishioka Masaru."

"Ishioka-san, could you please take over for me here? I'll help Kaito and the others."

"Yeah, of course," Ishioka answered.

Shinichi waited for the other passengers to finish climbing past the guard rail then climbed back over himself to stand under the cracked windows with Kaito.

"It's looking pretty okay," Kaito reported without being asked. They looked from the full vestibule on one end to the passengers now on the opposite side of the guard rail. The large man in the business suit was waving people past him into the vestibule and arranging everyone so they'd fit in around the children, carefully helping lift Mitsuhiko onto a young woman's back so he would be up off of the floor.

Shinichi smiled a little, relieved. _Everyone's really working together,_ he thought as the few passengers who would not fit moved to carefully gather around the guard rail as Kaito had instructed. _It's nice to see… after all this._

There was a quiet _crick_ above them and Kaito pushed Shinichi over a few steps, moving with him to stand closer to the rail. Everyone went quiet, waiting and listening, and everyone jumped when a somewhat staticky female voice crackled through the badge Kaito was still holding.

"– _at is this thi–?"_

"Can you hear me?" Kaito said into it immediately. "Push the button on the back to talk."

There was a few seconds' pause, then, _"Who is this?"_

Kaito handed the badge over to Shinichi. "I had Bishi bring the badge we left outside to an emergency worker. Let them know what's going on. I've got an idea for these windows."

Shinichi didn't question it. "This is Kudou Shinichi," he said into the badge as Kaito moved away from him. "I'm inside the rear car of the wrecked train under Tsuruno Bridge. We've got injured people here and the windows are breaking above us."

" _We're working to get to you, Kudou-san,"_ the woman replied.

"We got the door at the end of the train open, but there's rubble blocking the way out. Please start there. It should be the fastest and easiest way to get everyone out."

There was another pause. _"We'll clear it as quickly as possible. Is everyone in the last car?"_

"Yes."

" _Good. Thank you, Kudou-san. Could you please let me know right away if anything changes inside?"_

"I will."

Shinichi turned to Kaito again. He had stepped up and was balancing on the lip of one of the sideways benches' seats, carefully inspecting the window above him before reaching up and spreading a small, semitransparent sheet of something over some of the cracks.

"…What the hell is that?" Shinichi asked.

"Adhesive," Kaito replied.

Shinichi's eyebrows went up as Kaito hopped back down and moved to the next window. "You are ridiculous. Why do you have that?"

"Do you have any idea how many tricks there are that involve adhesives?" Kaito said. He placed a few more patches, but ran out of materials and switched to a small needle-nosed bottle, applying the contents strategically to some of the cracks.

"No," Shinichi answered, watching with a smirk. "And I don't think I _want_ to know."

Kaito grinned down at him and hopped lightly from the bench again. "I didn't have much on me, but I applied it where it should do the most good. Should buy us a little time at least."

"Yeah, well, let's not chance it." They moved back toward the guard rail again, joining the other passengers huddled around it, and sat down near Ishioka. Kaito's arm slipped around Shinichi's waist and Shinichi allowed it, keeping as close against Kaito's side as he could for warmth.

"How's she doing?" Kaito asked Ishioka, eyes scanning over the coats laid over the woman that people from the vestibule had offered since they were packed together so closely anyway.

"…It's a matter of time," Ishioka answered. "If we can get her help soon…" He glanced back at the vestibule as if hoping the emergency response team would break through at that moment, but nothing happened.

"We will," Shinichi said anyway, the words strong with confidence.

"So… are _you_ guys EMTs?" Ishioka asked uncertainly.

"Magician," Kaito said with a shrug.

"Detective," Shinichi answered.

"…Well, you're pretty good in an emergency anyway," he said with a tired laugh.

"You're not bad yourself," Kaito replied with a soft smile.

.

There were two more shifts in the debris above that tested the strength of the windows as they waited, but nothing broke through, though they could hear the rest of the glass in the next car over giving way to falling rubble that shook the train beneath them.

Then the response team finally broke through, and everyone was helped through the door at the end of the train and away from the bridge. There was a flurry of emergency workers and EMTs all rushing to carry or usher the injured to the ambulances, but Shinichi and Kaito just kept out of the way.

It didn't take long for Bishi to find Kaito again and perch on his shoulder, hunkering down close against his neck. Kaito just smiled and murmured softly, "Good girl."

"Hey, Kaito," Shinichi said, spotting a worker nearby. "Could you see if you can find our coats and shoes around here? I've gotta take care of something."

"Sure," Kaito answered with the kind of hesitation that told Shinichi he was not fooling anyone. But Kaito moved away and Shinichi went to the worker.

"Excuse me," he said. "There are bodies in a couple of cars at the bottom of the river." The woman's face immediately changed from polite attentiveness to alarmed analysis, looking Shinichi over where he stood in his socks with his clothes still soaked through. "And five more inside the train as well," he went on, ignoring that. "They'll need to be recovered once it's safe so they can be identified and returned to their families."

"Uh… who–?"

Kaito returned at that moment, dropping Shinichi's coat over his shoulders and handing him his shoes. "You didn't need to send me away to tell them that," he said.

"I was trying to be nice," Shinichi muttered.

"I know. Thanks." He leaned over and kissed Shinichi's cheek and Shinichi's subtle blush was lost on his cold-flushed face.

"Anyway, it's all right. This guy's with the MPD," Kaito told the emergency worker, making a complete nuisance of himself by ruffling Shinichi's hair roughly and scattering water droplets in the process, earning a glare from the detective. "Off-duty," he added, ignoring him. "As much as he ever is."

"Oh… Right," the worker said, eyeing the dove on Kaito's shoulder.

"Do you know what happened to the three kids?" Shinichi asked. They had been the first ones helped out of the train and Shinichi and Kaito had been the last, so by the time they made it out the kids were nowhere to be seen. "How are they?"

"They've been taken to the hospital but it didn't look serious for any of them," she told him. "They'll be just fine."

"And Sekiya-san?" Kaito added. "He was lying just upriver there."

"Oh, he's okay too. We were able to get him to the hospital first thing."

"Excuse me," another worker said, coming up to them. "That man there said you might need these." He was pointing to where Ishioka was speaking with an EMT and offered Shinichi and Kaito two blankets.

"Thanks," Kaito said, smiling brightly and accepting them both as Shinichi shoved his shoes on and tugged the wet sleeves of his sweater into his coat, zipping it all the way up. The man headed off again and the woman turned to follow.

"Well then…" she said as she went, but Shinichi stopped her.

"You'll let someone know, right?" he asked again. "About the bodies."

He looked every bit as concerned as Kaito was sure he was, and the woman gave him a sympathetic smile. "Yes, don't worry. We'll bring them up."

"Thank you."

The woman headed off and Kaito tossed an unfolded blanket over Shinichi's head.

"Hey!" he complained.

"Oops, sorry~" Kaito said with a grin as he situated his own blanket around his shoulders, bringing Bishi down to cradle her carefully against his chest in the crook of one arm underneath it. Shinichi rolled his eyes and pulled his blanket around himself then glanced back at the scene before catching Kaito's eye and nodding upriver where they'd left the car. They headed off in that direction without a word, keeping close as their shivering started up again, the adrenaline finally wearing off.

"I h-hate you," Kaito muttered as they walked.

"No you don't."

"It's f-freezing."

" _Yeah_ it is."

"W-We're s-soaking wet. Why did you th-think this was a good idea?"

"You f-followed me."

"Of course I followed you; I'm an idiot!"

"You're not an idiot."

"One of us is."

Shinichi just smiled. "Come on, hurry up. I want to g-get out of here and get some d-dry clothes before we get d-dragged in for all the questioning and stuff." He glanced back at where Megure was getting out of a cop car that had just pulled up near the scene, but turned back to Kaito when he groaned.

"I am s-so not used to all this… official proceedings s-stuff," he complained. "KID would just take off and that would be it."

"Deal with it," Shinichi said with a smirk. "You s-stuck with me th-this far. You can come in and p-put in a statement."

They had left the car running and Haibara reached up to unlock the doors as they came up to it. They climbed in and quickly shut the doors, both of them sinking into the seats at the warmth from the heater inside.

"So?" Haibara asked as Shinichi handed her badge back to her.

"They're okay," he said. "They're all okay. They got knocked out in the crash; that's why they weren't answering at first."

"Hm," Haibara said, like she hadn't been worried. "And what the hell happened to you two?"

"Oh, nothing," Kaito replied, waving a hand. Bishi suddenly flew out from under the blanket and Haibara jumped a little. The dove perched onto Kaito's headrest and stared at her. "Shinichi just thought a quick swim in the river would be fun," he said as he latched his seatbelt.

"Hmph. Wouldn't be the first time."

"Let's just get out of here," Shinichi said, rolling his eyes and dragging his own seatbelt into place. Haibara sat back and did the same.

They pulled back onto the road and headed for home just as a light snow began to fall.

.

Much to Kaito's displeasure, they spent the rest of the day at the station, providing what Kaito felt to be a deluge of pointless details regarding the entire incident. But he was feeling too worn out to complain much about it, and it seemed the police didn't expect much from him anyway, with Shinichi there. Kaito had noticed long ago that when Shinichi was in a room, all questions seemed to get directed at him by default.

When they finally made it back to the Kudou manor that night, Kaito had insisted rather adamantly that Shinichi not say another word, and had promptly dragged him up to bed, taking the liberty of changing both of their clothes in a matter of seconds. Then he pulled Shinichi down under the covers and latched onto his side, and both of them were asleep before they even realized it.

The next day, however, they were back at it again. Kaito had gotten up early to pick up the kids and take them to give their statements at the police station, and Shinichi just barely managed to drag himself out of bed in time to accompany Takagi to the hospital where the train attendant had been admitted.

"They pulled me all the way to the back of the last car – I was just humoring them, you know? But then they said there was a bomb and something about a briefcase and that was right when we crashed," she told them from where she lay in the hospital bed. The wound to her leg had been deep and her recovery would be long. She would probably walk with a limp for the rest of her life, but she was still alive, which was more than could be said for many of the people who had been on that train or nearby.

Takagi nodded with a pensive hum and jotted something into his notebook. "Nothing less from the Junior Detective League," he said.

"The Junior… Detective League?" she asked.

"Oh, um, yes, those three you just described. They're pretty smart kids."

"He, um…" the woman started, but she trailed off.

"What is it?" Shinichi asked, and if his voice was a little scratchy, no one commented.

"Uh… well… One of the boys… Something broke through the window of the train after we crashed." Her hand moved to her injured leg. "I think I would have really been in trouble if he hadn't pulled me out of the way, but… I think he got hurt, too. Is he okay?"

"All three of them were released from the hospital last night," Takagi told her. "They're all okay."

They thanked her for her statement and headed out a short time later.

"How are you feeling, Kudou-kun?" Takagi asked as they were leaving the hospital. "It sounds like you caught a nasty cold."

"Huh?" Shinichi said, blinking over at him, but Takagi just went on.

"Everything's pretty much wrapped up with this case – as much as it can be… I know there's no leads on the two guys responsible, but–"

"I know," Shinichi assured him with a smile. "I get it. I'll get some rest. Thanks, Takagi-keiji. Let me know if you find out anything new."

"…Sure Kudou-kun," Takagi agreed as they came up to his car. "Take care of yourself."

Shinichi waved as Takagi pulled away, then shoved his hands into his coat pockets and headed toward the street to grab a taxi.

.

"Hey guys," Shinichi greeted, coming up to the table where three enormous parfaits practically blocked their nine-year-old owners from view. Haibara was sitting beside Ayumi on one side of the booth, demurely sipping from her cup of coffee across from Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Kaito. Shinichi sat down next to her. "How did it go at the police station?"

"Great," Kaito muttered, slumped down in his seat with his own mug held close in both hands. Shinichi noted with concern that he seemed to be drinking coffee instead of hot chocolate. "I just love spending hours on end at the police station two days in a row."

"Kaito-oniichan's just grumpy because he's not feeling well–" Ayumi started sympathetically, but she was interrupted when Shinichi sneezed.

"Shinichi-san, are you getting sick too?" Mitsuhiko asked, blinking at him from around his parfait.

"No, no–" Shinichi tried, his voice still scratchy.

"Of course not," Haibara interrupted. "Idiots can't catch colds. Someone must just be talking about him." He glared down at her but she ignored him. "Anyway, I think Kudou-kun and Kuroba-kun should go home after this. We can go ice skating without them."

Shinichi cast a quick glance across the table at Kaito. He was looking guilty since the two of them _had_ promised to take the kids out for a day to make sure they were all okay after the incident, but he also didn't look like he was going to argue with Haibara's point. His face was slightly flushed, and Shinichi could easily see his exhaustion.

"Maybe that's a good idea," he admitted, carefully suppressing a cough.

.

After the kids had all finished their ice cream ( _Who orders ice cream in the middle of January and then decides to go ice skating? Don't they know it's freezing outside?_ ) the four of them piled into the back of Kaito's car again, and he and Shinichi drove them to the skating rink. As soon as they got there, Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko all ran off in excitement, but Haibara lingered, hanging back.

"You are to drop him off at his house and then go home," she told Kaito strictly.

"Huh?" Kaito drawled, giving her an unimpressed, flat look. "Why should I?"

Haibara's face darkened with a scowl. "You are both sick. What you need is rest and to not continually re-infect each other. So you will go home, and there will not be any argument. Understood?" There seemed to be unspoken threat in her tone.

"Haibara…" Shinichi sighed as Kaito shrank back just a little.

"Go home and stay there," Haibara repeated to Kaito. "And the same goes for you, Kudou-kun. Don't think I won't know if you leave."

"Fine, fine, whatever," Kaito groaned. "Just look after those three, okay?"

Haibara scoffed and walked away and Kaito, as promised, took Shinichi back to the Kudou manor and headed home.

However, when Shinichi woke groggily the next morning, Kaito was somehow curled up in the bed right beside him, fast asleep. His brain was a little slow to process the fact that he hadn't been there when he'd fallen asleep, but it wasn't really all that surprising. He looked around the room instead and spotted what seemed to be an enormous bowl of fruit, a pitcher of water and glasses, a pile of cold medicine, and a towering stack of novels, all gathered on the nightstand and the desk and the floor beside the bed. Even his violin was resting nearby, within reach. It looked to Shinichi to be a fantastic excuse to just stay in bed all day. He settled in against the pillows again.

"Thanks Kaito," he whispered, and he could swear Kaito shifted a little closer in response, though his breathing remained slow and even. Shinichi wrapped an arm around him and closed his eyes with a smile.

.

 **Author Note:**

Hi everybody! Sorry this one went up a little late; I needed some help setting up the extra that's included at the end of this chapter over on AO3. I can't include it here because ff-net isn't equipped to handle it. If you're interested, please go take a look.

The next chapter is called "Harmony". Please look forward to it~!


	31. Chapter 31

**Case 31 – Harmony**

.

Shinichi had just happened to be at the police station tying up the last of the loose ends and formalities of the latest murder he'd stumbled upon when the large manila envelope arrived by messenger. It had been addressed to Division One as a whole and the messenger had seemed fairly nervous, so when Sato took it from her and Megure took it from Sato, it was handled with gloves and great care.

Several of the officers gathered around Megure's desk, and Shinichi, curious, joined them as the inspector opened the flap and removed two pages of sheet music from the envelope. Slightly baffled, Megure separated the pages to lay them beside each other and there, beneath the last stanza on the second page, grinned a little caricature in a top hat.

"Th-This is–" Megure stammered.

"Kaitou KID…" Takagi finished for him in wonder, leaning over his shoulder to stare at the drawing.

"What? Let me see that," Shinichi blurted out before he could stop himself. He pushed to the front of the little gathering of officers and moved around behind Megure's chair to get a look at the pages on the desk. Sure enough, the signature doodle was unmistakably KID's, and Shinichi had to forcefully suppress the random memory of Kaito reaching around him from behind to draw the same picture in the condensation of his bathroom mirror just a few days earlier. He shook his head, wondering just what was happening in his brain for a thought like that to be surfacing now.

"Could it be a heist notice?" Sato was saying somewhere to Shinichi's left.

"There are no words on it at all. Just music," Chiba observed, glancing over the pages.

"It's got to be a code," Shinichi muttered, his focus now almost entirely consumed by the puzzle in front of him. "Could I get a copy of this, Inspector?" he asked.

"If you can help us figure it out, sure."

.

It was evening by the time Megure and the other officers finally convinced Shinichi to leave the station. He'd been poring over two different copies of the original heist notice, one covered in his own handwriting as he made notes and tested theories, the other clean and unmarked for easier reference, but neither he nor any of the others had been able to decipher much so far. He took the copies with him when he left, intent on continuing his efforts as soon as he made it home.

His phone buzzed in his pocket just as he was coming up on his house and he answered it immediately. "Kaito…"

"Hey Shinichi," Kaito said cheerfully, ignoring the scolding tone in Shinichi's voice. "I just wanted to let you know I can't meet you for dinner tonight."

"Too busy prepping for the heist?" Shinichi asked, purposely layering his voice with suspicion.

"Wow, they called you already, huh? I know it's a tough one but really, they could have at least _tried_ to solve it on their own first."

Shinichi could practically see Kaito preening in his mind as he reached the gate and headed inside. "I was already there. Murder on the way to meet up with Hattori for the soccer game. Actually… I'd forgotten all about it 'til just now; I've been so wrapped up in that notice you sent. And hey, how come you never mentioned you were planning a heist?" he accused with no real malice.

"Now, now. It wouldn't be fair if you got a head start on my task force and all the others now would it, Tantei-kun~?"

Shinichi shifted the phone slightly to tuck it between his ear and his shoulder as he pulled a mug down from the cabinet and started making coffee – particularly strong coffee, he decided, throwing another glance at the pages he'd set down on the kitchen table. "Your task force?" he said. "But you only addressed the notice to Division One. Megure-keibu's holding off on calling Nakamori-keibu in until we crack the code since you were so specific this time around."

"He doesn't have to call them in," Kaito said. "They always show up anyway."

Shinichi laughed a little at the doting pride in Kaito's voice. "But how do they even find out about it?"

"The same way _all_ my fans do~!" Kaito answered unhelpfully and Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"Okay, well I'm gonna go. There's this arrogant thief that's just begging to be caught so I should get to work."

"Hm, we'll see about that, Tantei-kun," Kaito said with an audible smirk. "I love you."

Shinichi smiled. "Love you too."

"And Shinichi?"

He paused and brought the phone back to his ear. "Yeah?"

"Try to make sure you eat something other than coffee. Seriously, I bet you haven't eaten all day."

Shinichi laughed. "Sure, Kaa-san."

"Work hard, sweetie!" Kaito chirped in a perfect female voice and Shinichi just shook his head as he hung up the phone.

.

It didn't take long at all for Shinichi to gravitate to the piano in the back of the Kudou manor. He sat down and pushed the cover back from the keys, the clean copy of KID's notice set out on the music shelf, but he didn't attempt to play it right away. Instead, his eyes moved over the glossy surface of the piano itself. It somehow seemed appropriate that the white baby grand might have been used by KID while he was writing the code.

 _Where did Tou-san and Kaa-san get this thing again? From an old family friend? Or maybe it was a gift from Kaa-san's teacher…_

He couldn't quite remember, but he shrugged the detail off as an unimportant distraction. He refocused himself on the pages, looking at the code as an actual piece of music for the first time and cringed. It was a mess of sharps and flats and rests in awkward places. "That guy…" he muttered to himself.

The first few times around, he stumbled over the odd assortment of chords, but once he was more familiar with it, he played it through as written. The notes and chords themselves were pleasant enough, and went together well, but the frequent rests were jarring and disruptive, ruining the flow of the music.

 _There's no way these are unintentional,_ Shinichi thought taking his fingers from the keys to consider the pages again. _KID is a perfectionist. He went to the trouble of avoiding discordant notes, so these rests that clearly don't belong… they have to be significant._

Shinichi stood and swept the pages from the music shelf, stopping by the kitchen to grab his notes before heading to the library. He laid the pages out on the old writing desk and pulled over a notebook, flipping quickly to a clean page, but his pen just hovered for a long while before ending up between his teeth. He slumped in the chair, his cheek against his hand and the pen bobbing up and down a little as he glared at the KID doodle at the bottom of the second page. Then a thought occurred to him.

 _Wait… Why didn't he sign it? KID always signs his notices along with the caricature. Although… I guess sometimes he does it a little differently…_ He thought back to the heist notice for the Memories Egg that KID had signed "The Last Wizard of the Century". _It's usually significant, right? Was it necessary that there be no writing on the pages other than the music? Or maybe…_ He tapped his finger pensively over the last stanza. _Why is this line the only one that's staccato? …Maybe he_ did _sign it. Except… Why can't I get this to work out right? If the notes or chords correspond to characters… Nothing fits._

He took the pen from his mouth and started jotting down "Kaitou KID" using as many different characters as he could come up with but nothing seemed right. He moved on to KID's various nicknames, scratching out renditions of "Modern-day Lupin" and "Moonlight Magician" before writing out the numbers "1412". He paused, staring down at them, then slowly wrote out the English letters K-I-D.

 _That's right…_ He thought. _It wasn't originally Kaitou KID. It was Kaitou 1412. Tou-san was the one who changed 1412 to K-I-D._

 _Numbers to letters… Numbers to… English letters…_

He wrote out "Kaitou KID" in English then glanced over the last line of music again.

"…Found it," he murmured with a smirk. "Now I'm finally getting somewhere."

.

It didn't take him too long to determine the mechanics of the code once he had something to test his theories against. Before long, he had a full message written in English.

"'At the turning of the month,'" he read aloud. "'I will take twin stones from the stars. Expect me when the music begins. Kaitou KID.'" He leaned back against his chair. "The turning of the month is probably January thirty-first or February first, but what are the twin stones?" he muttered. "And how do the stars play into it? And this line: 'expect me when the music begins'… He's made a big deal about the music. I should focus on that. Start there… Music and stars… Take two jewels from the stars when the music begins… The _stars_!"

Shinichi sat up again and pulled out his phone to run a quick search. "Heh. All right, KID." A grin overtook his face and he pushed his chair back, standing with his hands flat on the desk and staring down at KID's message. "The game is on!"

.

"Yes, Megure here."

"January thirty-first, 8 PM, at Hasu Music Hall."

"What–? Kudou-kun? Wait, are you saying you solved it?"

"That's right," Shinichi said into the phone. "KID is going to appear at the start of the show at Hasu Music Hall on the night of the thirty-first, and steal the matching pendant necklaces that belong to the duo that will be performing there."

"But… Kudou-kun, how did you figure that out from a couple pages of music?"

"It was a code. See, each note has a letter name in the English alphabet. If you add together the corresponding _number_ of each letter in a chord, with A being one and B being two and so on, then add to that the number of beats of each sharp, and subtract the number of beats of each flat you get another number which corresponds to another letter in the alphabet. He used the rests to separate words, and dotted half rests to–"

"Okay, okay, I believe you. 8 PM on the thirty-first, right? I'll make the call. Thanks, Kudou-kun. You've done it again."

"Heh, no problem, Inspector. I'll see you there."

.

Hakuba glanced at his watch again as Shinichi watched Nakamori and Megure make one last plea with the two musicians backstage at Hasu Music Hall. The two women, Katsurada Kotoko and Daidara Rei, had finally emerged from their dressing room, each wearing one of the two targeted pendants – flat, egg-shaped topaz gems on long golden chains, the clear, deep purple-red of the stones resembling light through wine in a crystal glass. The two inspectors were eyeing the necklaces warily in the dim lighting behind the stage.

"The show will start any minute now," Nakamori tried one last time. "Just leave them with us until intermission."

"That won't be necessary, Inspector," Rei said, one hand moving over the stone at her chest. "Koto and I talked about it, and we're going to keep them on. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"It will _not_ be 'fine'!" Nakamori howled before a stage manager promptly shushed him. He groaned and lowered his voice again. "KID wants you two on stage so he can snatch them without any interference from the police. You're walking right into his hands."

Kotoko grinned and Rei smirked, and neither budged an inch on the subject at all.

"It is time," Hakuba said, looking up from his watch.

Shinichi saw Rei reach out and take Kotoko's hand just before all light in the hall suddenly cut out, raising a good number of startled gasps and chatter from the audience in the house.

"It's him!" Nakamori called, but his voice was drowned out by a sudden blast from the enormous pipe organ that spanned the entire width of the stage in the old music hall. Then light flooded into the wings from a single spotlight trained on the stage and Shinichi ran toward it, stopping short just on the other side of the curtains. KID was seated at the organ, cape hanging neatly behind him and hat creating dark, dramatic shadows over a wicked grin as he slowly and smoothly played out a series of chords that Shinichi thought he recognized. It hit him rather abruptly a moment later that KID was playing his heist notice. He'd changed the time signature and taken out the rests for effect, but it was definitely the same notes. Shinichi rolled his eyes, not even aware that he was smiling.

KID finished the short piece and stood, turning not to the audience, but to where Shinichi, Rei, Kotoko, Hakuba, Megure, Nakamori, and a few task force officers were all gathered at the edge of the stage. "Good evening," he said, his voice smooth and alluring, not raised in the least but amplified somehow so that it echoed through the hall. "I hope you don't mind my stealing the show, but rest assured I mean only to provide something of an introduction." He snapped his fingers and another spotlight came to life, landing on the two musicians in the midst of the officers. "Katsurada-ojousama, Daidara-ojousama, if you would be so kind…?"

The place went dark again for an instant, and then a single spotlight was shining down over center stage where KID was now waiting, his hand outstretched toward the wings.

"Let's go!" Rei whispered to Kotoko, and Kotoko nodded, grinning. They both took a step forward, but then Nakamori and Megure were there, blocking their way.

"This is crazy," Megure said. "Don't go to him just because he asked you to!"

"He's only after those pendants!" Nakamori insisted.

An admonishing _tsk_ -ing sound carried through the hall. "Inspectors," KID scolded gently. "You're holding up the show. I simply cannot allow an audience to be disappointed so…"

The lights went out once again, for just slightly longer this time, and when the center stage spotlight reignited, it seemed that KID had not moved in the least. But Megure and Nakamori had somehow become hopelessly tangled in a long extra segment of curtain that no one had noticed hanging among the other folds in the wings. Much of the task force seemed to be in a similar predicament; only Hakuba, Shinichi, Kotoko, and Rei had been spared.

"Now then," KID said, his hand still outstretched, and Rei and Kotoko ran hand in hand from the wings, out into the pool of light where KID was waiting.

"I appreciate you letting me share the spotlight tonight," he said as they came up beside him. "It's an enticing atmosphere after all, isn't it?" The spotlight softened over them, giving the stage a warmer glow. "It's easy to believe in phantoms here." His tone was low and intimate but the words were still amplified, washing over the audience. He winked at the musicians, taking a knee before them and gently lifting Kotoko's free hand to place a light kiss onto it. As he stood again and drew his hand back, she found herself suddenly holding a white rose in full bloom. Kotoko blushed and squeezed Rei's hand a little tighter. She couldn't seem to stop smiling. KID produced a second rose and offered it to Rei.

"Just a second, KID-san," Rei said. She was smiling too, and there was something light in her voice like laughter, but her eyes were sharp on KID. "We've already decided we don't mind if you steal our pendants–"

Kotoko's hand automatically moved up to cover the stone she always wore, and she gasped when her fingers closed on the cream lace of her bodice. The jewel was already gone. Rei did not look surprised in the least.

"But," she continued. "Only if you promise to give them back when you're done here."

KID's smile was confident, and he held her gaze steadily and silently until she finally gave in and accepted the rose he was still holding out to her. As soon as she did he knelt before her, lowering his head in a somewhat exaggerated bow with his cape flared out on the stage behind him and one hand over his heart.

"I can only swear on my honor as a thief," he said, raising his head to meet her eyes again. "But if it is possible, I will certainly return them to you. You have my word."

Rei breathed out a little laugh that might have been a scoff and reached for her pendant. It was gone.

Startled in spite of herself, Rei refocused on KID to see him grinning wickedly from beneath the stark shadow of his hat.

" _KID_!" Nakamori howled. With Shinichi's and Hakuba's help, the inspectors and task force officers were just about free of KID's trap. The thief stood.

"It's been a pleasure," he said. "But let's not keep your adoring fans waiting any longer. After all, tonight is all about the music~" He vanished suddenly in a swirl of amber smoke and the lighting shifted, illuminating the stage as it was meant to be for the start of the concert.

Kotoko and Rei blinked at the clearing smoke for a few silent seconds in bewilderment.

"Rei-chan?" Kotoko whispered, glancing at her partner.

Rei smiled and reached over to tuck her rose into Kotoko's hair. Kotoko's lips turned up as well at the gesture, and she carefully tucked her rose into the breast pocket of the fitted blazer Rei was wearing over her simple black dress. "Ready?" Rei asked.

"Always," Kotoko answered instantly.

Rei turned to the wing opposite from where the police were quickly vanishing to look for KID and waved to a sound technician to turn on their mics. Her cello was already onstage and she moved over to the velvet bench that had been set out for her, taking her place and preparing to play as Kotoko moved downstage.

"Welcome everyone," she greeted, her voice warm and easy as she looked out over the dark seats of the house. "Thank you all so much for coming out tonight…"

.

When Shinichi and Hakuba ran out of the concert hall and into the quiet hallways, the task force was splitting wordlessly into little groups and running off in every possible direction – down each stairwell, up each stairwell, through every hallway. There wasn't the slightest hesitation from any of them. They all knew right where to go. Shinichi paused to stare after them in bewilderment, then reached out to stop Hakuba before he could race off as well.

"You're in on this too?" he asked, surprised.

"You are, too," Hakuba answered, blinking back at him. "Did Nakamori-keibu not tell you?"

"…What–?"

"You have the cloak room," he said, pointing. "Hurry." He took off running in the opposite direction of where he had pointed.

"No– But– Wait, Hakuba–!" But Hakuba was already gone. "Like hell I'm going to the _cloak_ room," Shinichi muttered sourly. "If anybody had _filled me in_ , I could have told them exactly where KID was going to be."

He set off at a sprint, up a flight of stairs and around a corner just in time to see KID's cape slipping around a turn just ahead. He had to dodge around the two task force officers asleep on the plush carpet of the hallway to give chase, but he slowed when he saw KID stopped and waiting for him farther down the hall.

Shinichi approached cautiously, taking in with just a brief glance the numbered door KID was standing beside. "KID," he greeted with both a self-assured stance and a confident smirk.

KID answered with a grin. "Ah, Tantei-kun. Fancy meeting you here. I see you deciphered my… _notes_." The grin widened, his eyes dancing.

Shinichi made an attempt to reply coolly, but he didn't quite manage to keep the laughter out of his voice as he answered, "Of course."

"Naturally," KID agreed with a patronizing nod. "But how did you know I would come _here_?"

"Oh please," Shinichi scoffed. "A private balcony reserved by Doitou Katsuki? The only mystery there is whether you were just supremely confident that no one would bother to look into that much detail in the short time you'd allowed between your notice and the heist, or if you used that name on purpose hoping to draw someone here."

"Hm," KID hummed. "Why not both? But then…" He shrugged. "What does it really matter? We're here now…"

Shinichi staggered back a step when KID moved, suddenly right in front of him, nose to nose in the span of a blink. Then he heard a click, and before he could look round for the source of the sound he felt himself forcefully moved to the side, and the light from the hallway vanished with another soft click. Shinichi blinked, hurrying to take in his new surroundings in abruptly dimmer light. Evidently, KID had ushered him through the door and into the private balcony where heavy velvet curtains had been drawn in front of the view, hiding them from the rest of the music hall.

"Glad to see I can still surprise even you~" KID teased – a whisper under the cello and vocal harmony from the stage. His arms were wrapped around Shinichi, holding him close, and Shinichi stared back, a blush rising quickly. He hardly had time to process the whole of the situation before KID was kissing him, but even so, when KID started to pull away Shinichi's hand was suddenly on the back of his neck, forcing him in again until they were both breathless and flushed.

"I'm surprised at you, Tantei-kun," KID said, collecting himself much more quickly than Shinichi, mischievous grin clear in the dim room.

"I want to do that more often," Shinichi managed, and he could feel his ears heat with embarrassment at the small confession. A gloved hand dusted over his cheek, KID's eyes locked on his and the smile much softer now.

"As much as you like," he said, and there was definite smugness there but Shinichi let it go.

"What about the jewels?" he asked.

"I haven't checked them yet." He gave a little shrug. "I figured I'd just wait here until my task force decides to give up."

"They'll check over here eventually."

"I'm not terribly concerned." The grin returned and Shinichi almost groaned.

"What traps have you set this time?"

"Nothing _too_ bad," he answered but he couldn't, or rather didn't bother to keep the grin from widening. Shinichi just shook his head. "Aw, don't be like that, Tantei-kun." He leaned in closer and put his lips to Shinichi's ear. "I should catch you, too. Steal you away and have you all to myself." The words were a low, rolling whisper and he felt Shinichi shudder in his arms. The grin returned and he tilted his head to press a few slow, hot kisses along Shinichi's neck, the barest scrape of teeth against skin and the light touch of KID's tongue drawing a small but unexpected whine from the detective. KID stopped short, still pressed against him, his lips close but not touching and his breath dusting over Shinichi's skin. But then he let out a soft laugh and drew back, and Shinichi's face warred between relief and disappointment.

"I think we'd better stop for now, Tantei-kun. It's no good losing our heads in a situation like this."

Shinichi nodded then swallowed and said firmly, meeting KID's eyes, "Don't disappear."

KID grinned. "Of course." He caught Shinichi up in another, sudden kiss then vanished through the door into the hallway, leaving him staggering.

.

Shinichi stayed in the balcony for a short time after KID left in an attempt to compose himself before deciding to play into Nakamori's apparent "plan" to man every inch of the music hall. He headed for the cloak room, as Hakuba had told him, and was eventually collected by a cluster of disheveled and frustrated task force officers as they all started trickling in toward a pre-arranged meeting spot to report in and regroup. When the group that had been minding the roof eventually joined them, every last one of them was covered in bits of multicolored foam.

Nakamori and Hakuba were the last to arrive, and Shinichi cringed at the fine layer of rainbow glitter coating them both. He recognized it as the glitter Kaito had been testing out a few weeks ago that he had determined in the end to have stuck around for longer than intended. Shinichi never knew if Kaito had considered that a flaw or a perk, or if he'd bothered to fix it. He hoped for his fellow detectives' sakes that he had.

"No fair," Kazeno murmured, trying and failing to clean flecks of foam from his glasses with a corner of his equally soiled shirt. "Why does Kudou-kun always get away without suffering through any of KID's pranks?"

"What's that?" Megure asked, looking up from where he was pulling an inexplicably continuous string of silk scarves from the pocket of his trench coat.

"Kudou-kun always seems to get away unscathed," Amane commented, rolling her eyes as she plucked foam from her hair.

"Is that right?" Megure said with interest.

Shinichi laughed nervously. "Who knows what KID is thinking–" he tried but Hakuba interrupted.

"KID likes to play favorites," he said. "And I think it is fairly obvious who he has chosen." He gave Shinichi a somewhat critical, analyzing look, but the moment passed as the doors opened and the audience started pouring out from the hall.

"Looks like the show is over," Nakamori sighed. "All right… we're not gonna find him in this crowd. I'll check in with Daidara-san and Katsurada-san and then let's call it a night."

.

"I wanted to thank you two personally for being such good sports."

The two musicians spun toward the closed door of their dressing room where Kaitou KID was leaning casually, a perfect grin glinting just below the shadow of his white silk hat.

"Your assistance was very much appreciated," he said. He raised his obviously empty hands then turned them over with a graceful curl of fingers, producing the two pendants, one in each of his open palms. He held them out to the couple and the relief was clear on their faces as they both hurried forward to reclaim them, slipping them back around their necks the moment they were in hand.

"I'm sorry for any anxiety I may have caused you," KID added, feeling a touch guilty under the flawless poker face.

Rei smiled. "Don't worry about it. It was pretty great having you there."

"It was so exciting!" Kotoko interjected. She seemed to be just barely containing herself, staring at KID with glittering eyes as she clung to her partner's arm. "Did you get to stay for the show?"

"Unfortunately no, and I'm afraid I can't stay now, either. I have a very important appointment to keep, so I'll bid you both good night." He grinned then gave a sweeping bow before vanishing again in a soft explosion of lilac smoke.

Kotoko and Rei looked at each other in bemused silence for a moment before they both spoke up, exclamations of "That was awesome!" and "That was so cool!" overlapping before the two devolved into fits of laughter in the middle of the quiet dressing room.

.

The slight breeze was the only warning Shinichi had. He had just closed his bedroom door when KID swept into the room, the previously open curtains swinging down over the window behind him.

"Good evening, Tantei-kun," he said, striding smoothly forward with a distinctly predatory edge to his grin.

"KID," Shinichi acknowledged with a smirk.

Then KID was on him, pushing him back against the door. He dragged a hand over the light switch beside it, flipping it off, removed his hat, and dropped it gently aside as he kissed Shinichi. Hands ran over his body, somehow relieving the detective of his blazer and shirt before he'd even realized it. In the next moment, KID's monocle and gloves were also gone and his hands were warm on Shinichi's sides, lips hot and insistent against his, and Shinichi could not catch his breath – could barely hold himself up. He grasped at KID's cape, but then KID was pulling him around, away from the door and toward the bed, backing him onto it. He crawled over him and locked Shinichi's hands down with his own, their fingers linked together so that Shinichi could hardly move. Lips traveled steadily down Shinichi's neck to his collar bone and gradually down to his chest and he could barely collect himself enough to speak.

"KID," Shinichi gasped out, making a small effort to free his hands. "K-Kaito, let me go."

"I can't," KID murmured back against his skin. "It's dangerous, Tantei-kun. I just came from a heist; it's really not safe for your hands to be wandering just now."

"Then just take all that off why don't you?" Shinichi groaned, and he thought he was being reasonable but his reasoning was not working as well as it could have been at that moment because KID's lips were still on him, making it difficult to focus on anything else.

KID paused and shifted up again slightly to grin down at him. " _All_ of it? My, my, Tantei-kun, how very forward~"

" _Kaito_ …" Shinichi complained, his face already flushed. He was answered with a warm laugh.

"All right, all right. Give me a second."

He wasn't entirely sure what happened next, but there was a very brief explosion of smoke above him, during which his hands were released but the pressure of Kaito straddling his hips never left, and when his vision cleared a few moments later Kaito was still there leaning over him, but he was stripped to the waist.

"Happy n–?"

Shinichi pushed himself up, Kaito sliding into his lap, and grabbed him, swallowing the rest of the sentence in an enthusiastic kiss. When Kaito was finally able to break away he turned his attention to Shinichi's neck once again, murmuring his name, the sound laced with want. Shinichi's hands were working their way slowly down his back, but they didn't stop and a brief squeeze surprised a squeak from Kaito. He pulled back to look at Shinichi, meeting eyes dark with lust.

"Shinichi…" The name came out in a desperate kind of whine, but Shinichi only took the chance to recapture Kaito's lips, easing them open with his own and drawing Kaito's breath into himself, relentless and rough and eager. His arms tightened around Kaito, forcing his body closer, and Kaito moaned, his hips jerking just briefly to grind into Shinichi.

Shinichi broke away, gasping at the friction. His fingertips were starting to dig into Kaito's back and he panted against his neck as he tried to refocus himself, vaguely aware that he was quickly losing his handle on intelligent thought. Kaito hadn't failed to notice. His hands slid down Shinichi's sides, snuck over to unfasten his pants, edged beneath the loosened waistband.

"K-Kai–!" Shinichi gasped, too breathless to finish the name.

Kaito's hands glided up to his chest, pushing him back gently onto the bed again and he eased himself down over Shinichi to tease his ear with teeth and tongue and breath. His hands only slid back down marginally when he moved on to Shinichi's neck again, sucking lightly on his skin.

"Kaito…" Shinichi said once he'd regained his breath and gotten his mind around the distracting nips Kaito was taking at his neck. There was a subtle, restrained movement – Shinichi bucking helplessly under him in a misguided attempt to bring Kaito's attentions lower – but Kaito still did not move except to hold him more firmly to the bed. " _Kaito,_ " he said again, and it was almost a growl. Kaito grinned into Shinichi's neck.

"I love hearing you say my name," he murmured.

"Yeah?" Shinichi whispered back. "Then _make me._ "

Kaito's head came up, his face displaying rapt surprise. There were snatches of moonlight catching in Shinichi's half-lidded eyes as he stared at Kaito and Kaito drank in the sight. Shinichi's lips were parted, his breath still a little hitched and his skin a warm pink, the color creeping in and giving away his embarrassment at his moment of boldness. But he didn't look away and Kaito couldn't help himself. He rushed forward to claim those lips, rough enough that Shinichi flinched with a brief groan, but he didn't make any move to stop him, just tugged gently on Kaito's hair as payback. Kaito laughed, finally drawing back again to meet his eyes, unapologetic.

Shinichi's focus was locked in on Kaito. The slightest movement made his breath catch just a little in anticipation – every detail taken in with his eyes and body alike. When Kaito's hands moved slowly down again and paused over his stomach, Shinichi gave the barest nod, meeting Kaito's eyes, and Kaito grinned, shifting to lay light kisses down Shinichi's chest as his hands slipped lower, pulling fabric with them, and he soon found himself in full possession of his detective's ability to think – all that flawless reasoning tangled up and caught amid helpless little sounds of pleasure and it was all so perfect that Kaito wanted to laugh.

And all he knew for certain as his detective drew him down with him into the sugar-gloss web of _taste_ and _touch_ and _sound_ was that Shinichi was one treasure he was never, ever giving back.

.

"So you play the organ now," Shinichi commented later that night.

Kaito grinned. "I am a man of many talents."

 _Talented. Yes, I will definitely give you that one,_ Shinichi thought, turning his face more fully into Kaito's shoulder to hide a slight blush as he indulged in the memory of the night they'd just shared. He drew in a deep, slow breath, taking in the shower-fresh, damp, clean scent of Kaito's skin, and murmured sleepily, "When would you even have time to learn? Actually… where do you even _go_ to learn something like that?"

"I taught myself! See, the great thing about organs is they have a volume pedal, so it's not too hard to sneak in and practice without anyone hearing," Kaito said with a cheery smile. His fingertips circled absently on the back of Shinichi's neck and Shinichi wondered if Kaito knew how soothing that was.

"Is that where you've been lately?" Shinichi asked.

Kaito gave a noncommittal hum. "That and scoping out the music hall, researching the musicians, rigging the traps. That sort of thing."

"Mm," Shinichi said. "I didn't like not having you around."

"Heists take a lot of preparation," Kaito answered patiently. "But I also didn't want to ruin the game for you."

"Good job. Well done. Game not ruined. Come here." Shinichi shifted a little, reaching up to drag Kaito down into a light kiss, and Kaito laughed against his lips.

"Good night, Shinichi," he said, and it seemed more like an order than anything. Shinichi smiled a little and settled in against Kaito's chest again.

"Good night, Kaito."

.

 **Author Note**

So I just recently realized that volume 45 of the manga suggests that the Kudous do, in fact, have a grand piano in their house, but it's clearly depicted as being black. I was not aware of this at the time I was writing Fall into Flying, so I made up a story for the white baby grand and loved it too much to change it. So there you go. To be fair, the black piano depicted in the manga was shown in a flashback to when Shinichi was about 6, so something might have happened to it in the meantime, which might even further support Toichi gifting them a new one after that. *fast talking and hand waving* lol

I took several years of piano lessons as a kid, but I was never any good at all, and that was a long time ago, so when this chapter came up I got some hilarious help on a refresher crash course from my mum and sister, and all they asked was that they be mentioned by way of pun, so I'd like to thank my "Staff Members" for their humorous assistance in this endeavor :)

I hope you enjoyed the fluffiness of this chapter :3 Things are about to get much more intense. There's only a few chapters left... The next one is called "Two of a Kind". Please look forward to it~!


	32. Chapter 32

**Case 32 – Two of a Kind**

.

" _Snake said a few days' notice wasn't enough. He's balking."_

" _No. He's waiting for something. Find out what it is."_

.

"Sorry to cut this short; it's been fun," KID said, giving the amethyst-set tiara in his hand a short toss and snatching it out of the air again with a grin. "But an old friend has turned up and it would be rude to keep him waiting." He caught Shinichi's eye over the chaos in the lobby of the Suzuki building from on top of the half-circle platform above a set of revolving doors. "And, if you don't mind, I'll just ask you all to stay here. Well then…" KID kicked his foot back to tap gently on the wall of windows behind him and a panel cut out of the glass near the ceiling fell out, smashing violently on the empty sidewalk outside. Conveniently, Jirokichi had already blocked off the entire area for all of his traps.

"Stop right there, KID!" Nakamori howled even as KID pulled out the card gun and pointed it up at the metal support beams crisscrossing past the skylights overhead. KID just flicked him a two-fingered salute and shot his grappling hook, letting it lift him up to the opening in the windows. Then he was gone.

Shinichi ran to the doors, trying the sets on either side of the revolving ones, but KID had already blocked them off, locking everyone inside. The revolving doors themselves wouldn't turn, either. Hakuba had discovered that the hard way when he'd tried to chase KID through them earlier and found himself stuck when the doors had rotated just enough to close him off from the street outside but not enough to let him through to the lobby.

 _There's gotta be some way out of here. I can't let him–_ Shinichi's eyes moved up to the opening in the windows above, then trailed slowly over to the empty display case hanging near the center of the ceiling from a sturdy cable run through a pulley. His gaze darted down then, to the other pulley and lever, low on the wall within reach, then to Jirokichi and Nakamori. He blinked, face going blank for moment before a wicked grin appeared. _I've always wanted to try something like this!_

"I need everybody to move to the edges of the room!" he called across the lobby. Then he ran over to Nakamori. "Inspector, could you please have your officers keep to the walls as much as possible?"

"You have some sort of plan?" Nakamori asked.

"You could say that," Shinichi replied, still grinning. He removed his suspenders, sliding them out from underneath his blazer as Nakamori hesitantly repeated the order and the task force all spread out along the walls of the spacious lobby. Then, holding the suspenders between his teeth, Shinichi reached over toward Nakamori and grabbed the gun from under the inspector's suit jacket. "Just need to borrow this for a sec," he mumbled around the suspenders.

"Ah! Wait a minute Kudou-kun, you can't just–" But Shinichi had already run off, coming to a stop beside the lever on the wall. He was already well familiar with the setup – Jirokichi had rigged the pulley system so that even if the lock on the lever was released, the display case for the tiara that bore the Winter Cherry amethyst could not be lowered since the pulley directly above the case had also been locked in place. All of it was intended to make KID's only real option of approach the skylights above, which had of course been rigged with traps. But if Shinichi could take out that lock without breaking the pulley itself…

Shinichi smirked and raised the gun.

"Now wait just a moment, boy," Jirokichi said. "Just what are you–?"

The gunshot echoed in the lobby and sparks kicked up around the winch above the case. A few moments later, there was a bright _ping_ as a piece of metal hit the floor.

By then, Nakamori had rushed to Shinichi's side, and he grabbed the gun out of the young detective's hand. Shinichi practically ignored him, having already turned his attention to the lever on the wall even as Nakamori shouted at him about recklessness and irresponsibility. He released the safety lock on the pulley but held tight to the lever, reeling it back to raise the case up as high as it would go while his other hand kept the cable from winding around the wheel, creating a length of slack. He set the lock again momentarily to hold the cable and wheel in place, coiled the cable tightly around his arm, and released the lock.

With nothing stopping it, the weight of the large display case high above suddenly dropped in a near-freefall, pulling its cable up through the pulleys, and Shinichi along with it. He bit down harder on the suspenders still clamped between his teeth, a little startled by the jerking force of it even though he'd known it was coming.

As he had calculated, the case crashed into the floor, stopping his elevation before the hand holding the cable could reach the pulley directly above him. He was just close enough to grab onto a metal support beam and he walked himself a little farther up the wall until he could drag his body up on top of it. Once he was sure his weight was fully supported by the beam, he carefully unwound his aching arm and let the cable fall slack in the pulley.

 _That went well,_ he thought with a breathless laugh. _Now…_

Suspenders still clamped between his teeth, he carefully crawled the width of the lobby across the support beam, over to the wall of windows above the locked doors. When he reached the end, he hooked the suspenders around the beam and tucked his foot into the dangling loop, adjusting the elasticity to lower him until he was level with KID's opening in the windows. He carefully maneuvered himself and his lifeline through the hole, one hand clinging to the suspenders and the other to the smooth edge of the glass, then transferred his other foot to the loop as well. One click of the button and the straps stretched, lowering under his weight to take him smoothly down along the outside wall, and he touched down on the street, grinning madly. Without a second thought, he left the suspenders dangling against the building and took off running in the direction he'd seen KID go.

Inside the lobby, everyone stood in relatively stunned silence. They'd watched the entire escapade but many of them still couldn't quite process what they'd seen. The crash of the reinforced display case had broken the floor, but Jirokichi hadn't seemed to notice or care.

"That boy…" Nakamori murmured, still holding his gun and staring down at the little piece of metal on the floor that Shinichi had managed to hit from so far away.

"He's insane," Kazeno muttered.

"He's incredible!" Jirokichi exclaimed, though it seemed his emotions were warring between excitement and frustration. _He_ was supposed to be the one catching KID in impressive and newsworthy ways, not this young upstart.

"He's… He's a lot like KID… isn't he," Amane stated quietly.

.

It was a little eerie, running down a street in downtown Tokyo and not seeing a single person. It almost felt like a deserted movie set. But then there were the helicopters. At least a few of them had to be Jirokichi's media crew, prepared to capture the old man's great moment of triumph over the Kaitou KID. The rest probably belonged to the task force.

He saw the end of Jirokichi's cordoned area coming up ahead, a wall of fans lined up right along each barricade, so he veered off between a couple of buildings, heading back toward the heart of the restricted space. It was pretty unlikely that KID would cross that boundary while he was still being targeted. He probably wouldn't even go near it.

 _So I should find him right around here somewh–_

A small gasp escaped him, restricted by the glove that was suddenly clamped over his mouth. He was dragged forcefully back into a more complete darkness than that of the alley he'd been running through and it occurred to him to be alarmed but he'd known almost instantly who had grabbed him.

"It's dangerous to be roaming the streets at night, Tantei-kun," KID whispered, not letting him go. "Even here."

Shinichi shoved KID's hand down away from his face and managed a half turn to look back at him, imagining he could see the smirk beneath the brief glint of the monocle.

" _Especially_ here," Shinichi corrected under his breath. "It's them, right?"

"Yeah," KID said. "And at one of old man Jirokichi's challenge heists."

"…They're putting killing you before the jewel now?"

"Could be. Let's just deal with what we've got for right now."

Shinichi attempted another glance at KID's face. It was still too shadowed to see, but he could tell now that they were standing in the inset of a stairwell not unlike the one up to the Mouri Detective Agency. "And what have we got?" Shinichi prompted.

"Snake," KID answered bluntly. "But he's hanging back. It's the woman we should worry about first. From what I can tell, she's a good shot, handguns only, and she's quick. No silencers. That's about all I know so far."

"That's quite a bit."

KID just shrugged.

"Okay… So what's your plan?"

.

"That could have gone better," KID breathed out, ducking back into the relative safety of the stairwell that had become their regrouping point. His hand moved absently down to grip at the shallow graze just below his hip where he'd almost caught a bullet in the leg.

"You think?" Shinichi muttered back.

"Nothing for it now," KID said with a shrug.

Shinichi cast a careful glance out into the alleyway. "It won't take her long to find us here."

"That's all right. The only way we're gonna lure her back to the Suzuki building is if she's chasing me anyway."

"And how exactly are you gonna keep her from shooting you before you get there?"

"Uh… I haven't quite figured that part out yet."

Shinichi suddenly stiffened, sharp eyes scanning over the alley once again. "Did you hear that?"

KID moved to look out as well, but they both leaned back into the shadows again when the sound of approaching footsteps grew louder under the distant hum of the helicopters. A long shadow fell into the alley as someone passed slowly by.

"Hey… Is that–?"

"The bastard managed to get out after all," KID murmured. "I thought he might be able to squeeze a rotation out of those doors once he figured out how it worked."

"It wasn't foolproof?" Shinichi asked, all criticism.

"It _was_ foolproof. Hakuba's no fool. I didn't think he'd be the one caught in it."

"…Was that a compliment?" Shinichi suggested, and KID could hear the teasing grin.

"Shut up."

"Anyway," Shinichi went on. "This might turn out to our advantage. You can still run, right? I have an idea. Wait here; I'll be right back."

.

The woman took her time approaching the alleyway. She didn't have any intention of sitting in one spot, hunkered down behind a gun like so many of the assassins and snipers before her. They'd all been bested by their target and thrown in jail. If she wanted an opportunity to kill KID before he could get her too, she'd have to make one.

Her footsteps were carefully silent as she edged toward the shadowed alcove where she could just make out a white silhouette tucked almost out of sight.

"Excuse me, miss–!"

The sudden voice and accompanying footsteps were loud under the whirring background noise from above, and she instinctively looked round at the young blonde man hurrying over to her. Then she realized her mistake and whipped her head back around. The white figure was gone. She let out a string of muttered curses under her breath.

"Miss, this area is closed off to civilians right now," the young man said as he approached, and she quickly turned to block the gun in her hand from his view.

"I'm looking for something," she said shortly.

"Oh? Perhaps I can help–"

Something passed by overhead, too smooth and bright and silent to be a helicopter, and the woman's face turned toward the sky. "…Stay outta the way," she snapped, and she shoved past him and took off running after the white glider.

"Hm. How rude," Hakuba murmured. He pulled out his phone and opened a text.

.

Shinichi glanced down at the soft buzz from his phone.

" _They are headed your way."_

"All right," he murmured. He tucked the phone away again and his hands moved to his belt as he leaned forward to glance around the corner of the Suzuki building at the empty street in front of it. He saw the glider first, already below the line of the rooftops and gradually descending, heading his way. The woman ran up a few moments later, but she stopped short of the windows of the Suzuki building, behind which an entire division of police officers was stirring restlessly. Instead she stalled at the corner and raised the gun in her hand, taking aim up into the sky at the landing glider.

Then a soccer ball came rushing through the air and smashed into her hands. The woman let out a startled shout, drowned out by the gunshot that had gone astray to pierce a window of the building across the street. The gun clattered to the pavement.

"See? I told you it would have been fine without the decoy," KID said, stepping out from around the corner to join Shinichi in the street as the glider curved out of sight.

"Shut up," Shinichi replied, rolling his eyes.

By this point, everyone in the Suzuki building was pressed up against the windows, staring out at the street in an attempt to determine where the gunshot had come from. Feeling somewhat surrounded, the woman turned to make a grab for her fallen gun but stopped short. Hakuba was there, crouching to pick up the weapon with a handkerchief and standing firmly in her escape path.

"Well now," KID called out to her. "What do you think? Should I open the doors~?" His grin was sharp as he held up a small remote.

"They'd arrest you too if you do," the woman warned, but the weakness under the words betrayed just how little she actually believed that. It was certainly no reassurance when KID started laughing even before she'd gotten the words out, and the detective next to him let out a scoff while the one behind her breathed out a quiet laugh. She took a tentative, unconscious step toward the building across the street but there was nowhere she could go to get away from them all.

"To be honest," KID was saying, strolling casually forward with his hands tucked into his pockets. "I don't want to trouble my cute little task force with scum like you–"

"KID, above you!" Hakuba shouted.

KID moved even before he looked, instincts taking over, and if he hadn't, the bullet that struck the street would probably have gone through his head. Shinichi turned sharply and looked up, following the trajectory. Snake was there, glaring down from the roof of the Suzuki building's lobby.

There was a tense stillness that settled over the street below the circling helicopters, and then, without a word, everyone burst into action. Snake fired again, the shot deflected by a card from KID's gun. The woman made a dash past Hakuba and Hakuba tackled her to the pavement. Shinichi ran past them all and grabbed the suspenders that were still hanging from the opening in the windows just below the roof. With a click of the button he adjusted the elasticity, and then he was suddenly rushing up the side of the building. When he reached the level of the support beam where the suspenders were still attached, they snapped him upward with enough momentum to throw him the short distance farther onto the roof.

"Snake!" Shinichi called, and Snake whirled, startled to find a second person on the roof, and even more baffled when he realized that it was the same person he could swear had been on the street beside KID when he'd taken his first shot.

"How…? What the hell–?" He turned his eyes back to the street and clenched his teeth, taking a step back from the edge. The only two people below were his hired gunman and the detective who had restrained her.

"Don't go getting the wrong idea," came a voice from behind him, and Snake whipped around once again, this time with his gun raised. "There's only one Kaitou KID. Tantei-kun is clever, I'll admit, but he's no magician."

KID was strolling toward him across the skylights and Snake could still see out of the corner of his eye Shinichi making his way over as well from the other side. He was trapped in a corner.

"Tch." Snake squeezed the trigger but KID had already read his movements and matched his timing perfectly, crouching to duck under the bullet and shooting his card gun at Snake's feet. He still had the grappling hook attachment on that had gotten him up to the roof, and it tangled around Snake's ankles, making him stumble and taking him down on one knee.

Shinichi ran forward as Snake pulled desperately at the cable with his left hand, but he wasn't making enough progress and the detective was getting too close. Snake raised the gun and fired but KID wrenched the cable, pulling Snake down hard on the glass panels. The shot went astray, the gun almost slipping from Snake's hand, and the bullet just barely nicked Shinichi's leg.

Shinichi wasn't deterred in the least. He ran right up to Snake and knelt to grab the gun, but Snake had finally kicked free of the cable and he reared up on his knees, wrenching the weapon back in an attempt to pull it from Shinichi's grip. Shinichi didn't let go.

"Snake!" KID called sharply. There wasn't time to reset his gun to fire any ammunition and the tangled grappling hook was useless so he dropped the weapon and ran for the two struggling perilously close to the edge of the roof. Then Snake rammed an elbow into Shinichi's diaphragm and shoved him backwards before he could recover.

Shinichi didn't have enough breath left in him to shout as he felt himself fall and miss the roof. For a moment he thought Snake might catch him and hold him up since they were both still clinging to the gun, but apparently the criminal's survival instincts were too strong. He'd felt himself overbalancing and let go, and Shinichi dropped over the edge of the roof without a sound.

Snake had less than a moment to panic over his lack of weapon and the fact that KID was coming up right behind him before KID rushed by in a blur of white and dove headfirst straight down off of the building. He grabbed onto Shinichi in midair and activated the glider, but the skylights that made up the roof of the lobby weren't even three stories high. He barely had time to pull out of the dive, and no space to maneuver a safe landing. Instead, Shinichi and KID found themselves heading straight for the building across the street. KID managed to turn just enough so that they wouldn't make the collision head-on, but they still crashed into the windows and tumbled the last six feet to the sidewalk below.

"Ugh… You okay?" KID groaned quietly. He and Shinichi were both lying face down under the misshapen glider. KID managed to roll to the side a little to reach the switch to deactivate it and the bent metal rods folded up, leaving the cape to flutter down on top of them.

"That–" Shinichi gasped, brushing KID's cape off from where it had settled on his head. "That was incredible." He was breathless but laughing with a very slight hysteric edge, just lying on his stomach on the pavement.

"Ten out of ten for the landing for sure," KID laughed back. He sat up, moving stiffly, and seemed to take special attention in straightening his crooked hat. Shinichi dragged himself upright and clapped KID on the shoulder hard enough to knock it slightly askew again.

"Yeah. Thanks for the save."

"Of course." The response was coolly detached, but Shinichi caught a small smile from KID at the meaningful grip Shinichi had on his shoulder.

Then the moment passed and they both looked up. Snake was standing on the edge of the lobby roof with a cell phone at his ear. As they watched, he lowered it and tucked it away into a pocket, but there was nothing else he could feasibly do. Shinichi had fallen with Snake's gun and Hakuba still had the gunman pinned a few yards over from where KID and Shinichi had landed. A task force helicopter moved in low and Shinichi held his breath.

 _Is this… finally it?_ He glanced back at KID but couldn't read anything on the suddenly stoic face. But then the helicopter lowered a ladder and Snake grabbed hold without hesitation.

"What–?" Shinichi breathed out.

The helicopter pulled away, up into the sky as someone in the cockpit raised the ladder, and Snake along with it.

There was only one other task force chopper in the sky and it immediately gave chase as Snake's hijacked chopper headed away from the Suzuki building, but it didn't make it far at all. There was a small explosion and black smoke plumed out as the rotor blades stuttered, the entire helicopter taking a sharp drop.

"They sabotaged the other helicopter!" Shinichi said, the outrage somewhat dampened by horror as he watched it turn and spin wildly down toward the rooftops of the blocked off section of the city.

KID's hand fell firmly onto Shinichi's shoulder. "Don't worry, Tantei-kun. They're not the only ones who know how to hijack a helicopter."

Shinichi glanced back at him. He wasn't smiling, but he didn't seem particularly worried or angry either as he stared up at the crashing chopper. Shinichi turned his eyes back up as well and saw a dark shadow leap from the cockpit and sail off somewhere beyond their sight as the helicopter smashed into a roof and went up in flames.

"The pilots are sleeping in the basement," KID said, nodding toward the Suzuki building. "No casualties at least, but… he slipped away again." KID stood and stepped away from the building, moving into the street as he brushed at the dirt on his suit (mostly for show). "He's earned that codename," he added lightly.

"Maybe, but we were close that time," Shinichi answered from the ground, a note of appreciation and maybe even satisfaction in his voice.

KID threw a smirk back over his shoulder at him. "Well, you're not gonna catch me sitting around on the sidewalk, Tantei-kun. And your friend there is otherwise occupied." They both cast a glance over at Hakuba, who was now practically sitting on the gunman as she continued to squirm and fight. "What's it gonna be?"

Shinichi let out a tired laugh and reached out for the wall behind him, using it for support as he struggled to his feet. "Can we call this one a draw, KID? I think I've got bruises on top of bruises right now; I'd rather not invite any more."

KID tsked at him, admonishing finger and all. "That's not a draw, Tantei-kun. If you give up, then I win~"

"Jerk," Shinichi muttered, subtly triggering his watch. KID cheerfully deflected the needle with the small remote he had shown the gunman earlier.

"Well, you tried at least," KID laughed. "Now then." He turned his back on Shinichi to face the broad windows of the Suzuki building's lobby where the task force were all still gathered, crowded close against the glass. In the most overblown gesture he could manage, KID removed his hat as he bent forward in a deep, exaggerated bow, clearly revealing the silver tiara that had been his challenge for the night balanced crookedly in his messy hair. He raised the hat again as he straightened up, holding it so that most of his face was still blocked from view but everyone in the lobby could still clearly see the shark's grin beneath it.

"Thank you for the eventful night," he called out to them through the glass. "I look forward to your next invitation."

With that, KID pushed the button on the remote and the doors to the lobby flew open, officers streaming out as fast as they could manage, but KID had already disappeared.

"I want teams A through C searching the area for any sign of him," Nakamori was shouting, standing his ground quite impressively in the middle of the street as the task force churned around him. "Team D, help Hakuba-kun. Get that woman in cuffs, right now! Team E, make sure the fire department is at that building and the perimeter is still secure. Let's go!"

"Are you all right, boy?" Jirokichi said, making his way over to where Shinichi was keeping close to the wall across the street.

"Uh, yeah, thanks."

"That was quite a stunt you pulled–"

 _Which one?_ Shinichi thought with a sarcastic edge.

"But…" Jirokichi leaned in a little closer. "Don't forget, you're supposed to be helping _me_ catch KID. No more of this going off on your own or I won't let you in next time, got it?"

"Uh, right, of course," Shinichi said, his hand at the back of his head and a sheepish smile on his face. "Guess I got a little caught up in all the excitement."

"Happens to the best of us," Jirokichi declared cheerfully, clapping him on the shoulder and making him choke on a groan. He suddenly regretted having done the same to Kaito. It must have hurt (though the thief would never show it). "When you've been chasing KID as long as I have you learn focus. Restraint," Jirokichi went on. "You'll get the hang of it though, so no worries, right boy?" He headed off cackling to go talk to his media team and Shinichi let out a flat laugh, rubbing at his bruised shoulder.

 _Yeah right_. He pushed away from the wall and made his way carefully through the crowd of officers to check in with Nakamori. He'd dropped Snake's gun just before KID had caught him, but once he'd confirmed that it had been safely retrieved he went back inside the building. He'd intended to go down to the basement to check on the helicopter pilots, but he paused at the sound of quick footsteps stalking up behind him in the deserted lobby.

"You _knew_!" Hakuba said as Shinichi turned back to face him.

"Huh?"

"This _entire_ time. _How_ did I not see it."

"Hakuba-kun," Shinichi tried again. "What are you talking about?" The British detective seemed agitated – more so than Shinichi had ever seen him – brown eyes flashing like fire.

"Of course," Hakuba continued. "I thought, 'He is the most brilliant detective I know. He would not knowingly fall in with a criminal.'"

Shinichi froze, staring. _Not good!_

"But that logic was wrong. What I should have reasoned is that you _are_ the most brilliant detective I know; there is no possible way you could have missed it. You just… do not _mind_. Or maybe… you even…"

"Uh, Hakuba-kun, there's something on your head," Shinichi said, shooting quite obviously for a distraction.

"I am _aware_ of that," Hakuba snapped back at him. He reached up and snatched the item from his head and found himself holding a gleaming silver tiara, the Winter Cherry amethyst glinting under the lights in the lobby. A white tag was dangling off of it and Hakuba tugged it loose.

" _Thanks for the assist, Tantei-san,"_ it read. Signed, _"Kaitou KID."_

Hakuba crumpled the tag in one hand, but the sigh he let out as he did was mostly resigned. He closed his eyes and just stood silently for several long seconds and Shinichi seriously considered running off while he had the chance.

"Hakuba-kun…?" he said instead.

"It does not make any difference after all, does it," Hakuba muttered to himself. "It is a matter of proof." He opened his eyes and met Shinichi's. "Trust that I will be keeping a closer eye on you from now on, Kudou-kun," he warned.

"Uh, sure?" Shinichi said when Hakuba didn't elaborate, unsure of how to respond to something like that. Hakuba hardly seemed to notice. He looked down at the tiara in his hand and let out another sigh, then headed back out of the lobby to return the item to Jirokichi.

Shinichi slowly turned back toward the doors leading into the rest of the building and started down a flight of stairs. _I guess he'd had to have figured it out eventually,_ he thought. _Oh well. He's known about Kaito for years and he still helped us tonight. It should be fine._

He reached the basement and started wandering through it. _But still,_ he thought. _Kaito is right. If we keep waiting for the Organization to make the first move, it'll keep turning out like this. It'll drag on, and the longer it does, the more damage the Organization will do. But… can we really–?_

He stopped walking abruptly and turned around. "KID."

"Hello, Tantei-kun," KID replied with a smile.

"…Where are the pilots?"

"Sleeping in the private bathroom off of old man Jirokichi's office upstairs."

Shinichi's head dropped forward in exasperation. "KID…"

"I just wanted to get you alone down here to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," Shinichi confirmed with gentle insistence. "What about you?"

KID shrugged. "Not too bad. Nothing's broken and I'm barely bleeding." His hand moved over the graze on the side of his thigh again and Shinichi glanced down at his own leg where he could feel blood smeared down the side of his calf under the little rip in his pants.

"Heh, yeah," he laughed. "Not bad."

Shinichi blinked and KID was suddenly right in front of him, his gloved fingers incredibly light on the side of Shinichi's face as he searched his eyes. "You seem kinda distracted," he said with a frown. "What's up?"

Shinichi shook his head a little. "It's nothing. Oh, well actually Hakuba-kun figured out that I know who you are."

"Took him long enough," KID said, unfazed and even grinning now. "And let me guess – he's got no proof."

"No," Shinichi agreed. "He's just mad at me."

KID waved a hand. "He'll get over it."

Shinichi was smiling again but something still seemed off to Kaito. He moved in close, hands light on Shinichi's sides, their lips not quite touching. He let the detective come to him, and he did with just a whisper of a kiss, but with it, Shinichi felt his anxieties about the Organization stilled. Stolen away.

KID smiled at him and tipped his hat just slightly, the action unexpected enough that Shinichi let out a laugh. Then he leaned in and pressed another kiss to Shinichi's temple before vanishing once again.

.

 **Author Note:**

Fun fact: the lobby of the Suzuki building was roughly modeled after the lobby (pre-remodel) of One Prudential Plaza in Chicago (minus the skylights and hanging display case lol). I definitely spent my lunch hour one day sitting in that lobby with my laptop just _staring_ at the revolving doors while I worked out the mechanics of KID's trap. It's glossed over for the most part here, but I've got a bonus chapter planned from Hakuba's perspective that will go into it a little more. As it turns out, I _really_ like writing the same scene from different perspectives :)

Next chapter is called "Target"… Get ready for a rough one, folks.


	33. Chapter 33

Warnings for this chapter include violence, bloodshed, and possibly feels. Sorry… (ish)

.

 **Case 33 – Target**

.

 **Kaito**

 _Your classes are done for the day right?_

.

 **Kaito**

 _Are you at home?_

.

 **Shinichi**

 _I'm at the library on campus. It's pouring rain here. Figured I'd wait it out._

.

 **Kaito**

:(

.

 **Kaito**

 _I'm having a horrible day_

.

 **Kaito**

 _I wanted to see you_

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 **Shinichi**

 _Do you want to come pick me up? I'd rather be home right now too._

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 **Kaito**

 _Yeah_ :)

.

 **Kaito**

 _See you soon_

.

Shinichi pocketed his phone and started gathering up the books from the study table. He knew it wasn't necessary for Kaito to come out to campus to get him – the rain likely wouldn't last too much longer and he did have an umbrella with him – but there had been an awful feeling hanging over him since he entered the library.

Forty minutes later, he was still standing around by the inner doors of the library. He pulled out his phone again, more to check if there was a message from Kaito than to check the time, but there was nothing there.

 _He's not that late,_ Shinichi thought. _I'm sure it's nothing. I'm just being stupid._ He glanced around the library once again, but there wasn't much to see. A few students browsing the shelves, a few working behind the counter. Nothing out of the ordinary. He let out a quiet sigh, typed up a text, and sent it.

.

Kaito was having the worst day he felt he could possibly be having without getting shot and/or arrested. A million little things were just going _wrong_ and it always was the mediocre things that really got under his skin. By the time he'd gotten home after an impressively annoying day at work, all he wanted to do was hide out at Shinichi's house and curl up against him while they nitpicked the plots of bad movies.

He was heading out to pick him up when his umbrella broke as he was stepping out the door. With an aggravated sigh, he turned back to grab his jacket instead but he couldn't find it, and only after an extensive search did he remember that he'd actually left it at Shinichi's house.

"Ugh, whatever," Kaito grumbled, heading out into the pouring rain. He threw himself into the driver seat of his car and slammed the door, jamming the keys into the ignition, and was not even surprised when the engine didn't turn over. "What _is_ it with today!" he shouted, dropping his forehead against the steering wheel.

The rain was still beating down against his windshield and he just didn't have it in him to check what had gone wrong with the car, so he fished his phone out of his pocket and sent a text to Shinichi to let him know he'd be late before getting out and trudging to the bus stop, beyond caring how drenched he'd be by the time he got there. The bus, of course, was pulling away as he arrived. Kaito blinked at it as it drove off, his frustration bleeding out into a kind of exhausted acceptance. Today was just going to be bad. He pulled out his phone again to let Shinichi know he'd be even _later._ It was dead.

Kaito gave up and leaned his shoulder against the pole of the bus stop. "I guess I've lost Lady Luck's favor," he sighed.

.

Shinichi cast another glance out the window of the library. It seemed like it was actually raining _harder_ now, and he might have thought it was a good thing Kaito was coming to pick him up if he hadn't seen what looked like Kaito running up to the building – no car, no umbrella, no jacket, and completely soaked – at that same moment. Shinichi smiled a little and pulled out his umbrella, hurrying out through the doors to meet him.

He'd barely made it five steps when the gunshot went off.

Shinichi staggered. His knees hit the sidewalk and then the ground was coming up fast as he fell forward. Adrenaline was knifing through him but he couldn't get up and blood coated his hand as he clutched at the front of his shirt and tried to breathe.

Kaito found himself on his knees beside Shinichi without really knowing how he got there, and already he had him on his back, his palms pressed to the wound in Shinichi's chest. A few students had come out of the library, drawn by the sound of the gunshot, but all of them stopped in shock by the doors, just staring.

"Call an ambulance!" Kaito shouted at them. He only took his eyes from Shinichi for a second, but even as he turned back again he caught a glimpse of a dark coat and hat, a familiar long mustache, a man turning and walking away from the scene–

He saw it all in the flash of a moment but he didn't let himself process it. Shinichi was fading fast. His eyes were slipping closed and Kaito heard his own voice, strangely stable, trying to pull him back.

"Hey, talk to me Shinichi," he said. "Come on, you have to stay awake – at least 'til the ambulance, so come on."

He tried not to notice how the puddles on the sidewalk around them were turning red. He tried to focus on his hands, still pressed to Shinichi's chest. They were shaking but he didn't care because Shinichi wasn't answering him, and wasn't opening his eyes, and there was so much blood squeezing between his fingers…

.

Kaito didn't know how long they were there outside the library in the rain, or what happened when the ambulance arrived, or when the ER doctors took Shinichi away through a set of doors, or when he had stopped to clean the blood off of his hands. But it all happened. It had all happened and he was standing in a hallway in a hospital and he was breaking.

It was with some kind of driven purpose that he headed for the roof access and snuck out of the building. He'd stolen a cell phone off of someone on the way, not really conscious of the moment he'd done it. It was clumsy. He had no idea who the phone belonged to, so he wouldn't be able to slip it back. He'd have to take it to the front desk and say he'd found it somewhere. His brain ran through the assessment on autopilot. It wasn't until he was tapping in his mother's number that he shook free of what he knew were inconsequential thoughts.

As the phone rang, he huddled down against the outside wall of the roof access stairwell. When Chikage's voicemail picked up, he forced in a deep breath, but it wasn't enough to drown the weakness in his voice as he left his message.

"Kaa-san… I don't know what to do. Shinichi is…" He faltered, the words dropping away because he didn't _know_ the end of that sentence. "It was Snake," he said instead. "I don't know what to do. I couldn't leave him and I let him get away and I don't–"

He cut himself off before the rush of words could carry him any further down a dangerous spiral of emotional response. He heard his breath brush unsteadily past the speaker of the phone and only then realized he was shivering. Making a conscious decision to attribute that to the fact that he was still soaking wet from the rain, now a light drizzle all around him, he ended the call without saying anything more and put his head down on his knees. His eyes were shut tight but he could still feel hot tears slowly gathering and dripping free, so he shut them tighter until they stopped. And when they did, only one thought – a cold, steady question that would have to be answered – remained in his mind.

 _Why Shinichi?_

.

Ran looked up when Kogoro's cell phone rang, but went back to her magazine when she heard him greet Megure.

"Oh, Keibu-dono! What can I help you with?" he crowed into the phone. "Got another tough case you need me to solve?"

"Mouri-kun…" Megure said, and Kogoro took pause at the hesitant tone. "Kudou-kun's been shot. He's… They don't know if he'll make it."

Kogoro's eyes snapped over to Ran and she looked up again, confusion giving way to concern quickly when she saw the dread on his face. "Otou-san?" she tried, but Kogoro didn't answer. Megure was still talking, telling him which hospital they were at, but he barely heard him.

"We'll be right over," he said into the phone. He hung up and stood, dragging his suit jacket off the back of his desk chair as he went, already heading for the door.

"Otou-san!" Ran said again, this time in frustration. "What's going on?"

He paused in the doorway but only managed to say, "We're going to the hospital. Come on."

"What? But Otou-san–" She grabbed for her purse and jacket as she hurried after him, jogging out into the light rain where Kogoro was hailing a cab. "What happened?" she demanded.

"…Shinichi-kun's been shot," he finally said as a cab pulled up to the curb. He opened the door and gave the driver the name of the hospital as he slid in but Ran had frozen on the curb, the door standing open before her. "Ran, get in," Kogoro said. "We're going to the hospital. …Ran!"

She came back to herself with a start and stammered, "Y-Yeah," climbing into the taxi and shutting the door. The car took off and Ran sat still, clenching the hem of her skirt in her fists as Kogoro told her not to worry. That the detective brat was stubborn. That he'd pull through. But she never responded.

Kogoro gave up and turned his attention to his phone, opening a text to Eri. Taking a deep breath, he started to type.

.

Ran was almost immediately left behind in a waiting room after they'd arrived at the hospital, Megure pulling Kogoro off into a hallway to give him the rundown. She tried to sit still as she glanced around the room, searching for someone she'd recognize, but all she saw was a smattering of strangers. She dug into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. Her finger hovered over Kaito's number in her contact list for a few nervous seconds before she made herself touch it. She put the phone to her ear but it didn't even ring. The call went straight to voice mail and she quickly hung up. That wasn't a message she could leave. She just couldn't.

Ran looked around the waiting room again as though she might have missed something. _Why isn't there anyone here?_ She flicked urgently through her contacts again, finding Yukiko's number, but again her call went to voice mail and she didn't have Yusaku's number. Trying not to panic, she found Agasa's and tried again.

"Ran-kun?" the professor answered.

"Agasa-hakase," Ran breathed, her voice breaking a little with relief. "Thank goodness. Where are you? Did you hear about Shinichi? Do you know what's going on?"

"Slow down, Ran-kun," Agasa said into the phone. "What about Shinichi?"

"H-He's been shot," she said and the silence on the other end of the line was heavy. "Um, we're at Haido Central Hospital. I'm sorry, I don't know anything else; they haven't told me anything."

"Thank you, Ran-kun, I'll head over right away," Agasa said, stumbling over the words a little. He hung up and Ran deflated in her seat. It made her feel a little better to know she wasn't the only one in the dark, though really she had been hoping Agasa would have answers for her. But it also helped to do something productive. She felt too helpless like this. She sat quietly for a few minutes, thinking through all of the other times Shinichi had managed to get himself into this kind of trouble, then suddenly stood, gripping the strap of her purse tightly as she headed out of the waiting room to find a nurses' station.

"Excuse me," she said, walking up to the desk. "I was wondering if there was any news on Kudou Shinichi? I think he's… probably an emergency patient, um…"

"I'm sorry," the nurse said. "We don't have information on ER patients here, but I can try–"

"No, it's okay," Ran said quickly. "Just… Could I donate blood? Just in case?"

.

Ishioka Masaru, the nurse who had come in to take Ran's blood, was a young man with an easygoing smile and warm brown eyes. "You know, it's not all that often we get spontaneous blood donations," he'd commented as he sat down beside her and swabbed her arm, his hands moving with quick, familiar efficiency. "I noticed your blood type though. Seems like we're always short of it. It's good of you to help out." He took his time finding the best point at which to insert the needle and Ran didn't flinch as he pushed it through her skin.

"I have a confession to make," she said, smiling a little. "I have a friend who's hurt…"

Ishioka's eyes flickered up to Ran's face before returning to the needle. "…Bad?" he asked.

Ran just shook her head. "I don't know. But honestly… That guy's got no right to go around getting hurt as often as he does with such a rare blood type. It's just inconsiderate." She could feel tears starting to gather and took a deep breath.

"You'll have to tell him that," Ishioka said. "When he gets better."

Ran blinked hard and passed her free hand over her eyes quickly. She smiled a little and nodded and Ishioka smiled back.

.

"Jii-chan, I need you to send Bishi to Hakuba with a message," Kaito said into the phone. He was still sitting out on the hospital roof, but he'd pulled himself together and had come up with a working theory for why Snake would have targeted Shinichi. "It's urgent," he added, his voice level and calm.

"Of course, Bocchama," Jii answered. "The message?"

"'Kudou Shinichi has been shot. You could be next. Keep the dove with you. She can bring help to you if anything happens. Kaitou KID.'"

"Bocchama!" Jii choked out. "Shinichi-kun–?"

"It's urgent, Jii-chan," Kaito repeated.

"Yes, of course. …But is he all right?"

"I don't know."

Jii was quiet for a few moments then said, "I'll send the note. And I'll look after them."

"Jii-chan, don't get involved–" Kaito replied, quick and sharp, but Jii had already hung up. "Tch." He pulled the phone away from his ear and went to work clearing the recent activity and cleaning away his fingerprints.

 _Dammit, Jii-chan… You better keep yourself safe._

.

Precisely thirty percent of Hakuba's attention was focused on diligently typing up notes as his criminal psychology professor droned on at the front of the lecture hall. Another forty-five percent was busily comparing what was said to what he'd observed in his own casework.

The last twenty-five percent was slowly deciding that this woman didn't actually know what she was talking about and had little to no support on which to base most of her claims, so when the distant sounds of some minor disturbance carried through the closed doors on either side of the hall, Hakuba allowed himself to be distracted. The professor quickly trailed off when she realized most of the students were now watching the doors, trying to see through the narrow windows as a few startled yelps sounded in the hallway.

Then, abruptly enough to make the professor and several students jump, a dove flew right up to one of the windows and tapped at it as best it could while flapping somewhat frantically to keep itself aloft in one place. Then it dropped away from the door, circled back around, and tried again.

 _Doves,_ Hakuba reflected, _are not meant to hover in one spot for long._

And that was the most he allowed himself to think on the topic before steadfastly returning his eyes to his laptop and making his best effort to ignore the disturbance entirely. Surely this was Kaito's idea of a hilarious prank – sending birds into Hakuba's class to "liven things up" or some such nonsense. If he just ignored it, and if no one opened the door (which no one seemed particularly inclined to do), maybe it would just go away.

Then he overheard one of the other students suggesting they call animal control. He considered that for a few quiet moments then conceded, closing his laptop and tucking it under his arm as he stood. That definitely sounded like a result that would earn retaliation from Kaito, regardless of how none of it was Hakuba's fault, or how he was fairly certain animal control would not be able to catch the dove anyway.

He pulled the strap of his bag onto his shoulder and headed for the door opposite the one where the dove was still tapping at the window. It flew away as he approached the other door and he was not at all surprised to see it fluttering right up to him the moment he pulled it open. It promptly landed on his shoulder and a good deal of murmuring rose up from the rows of tiered seats behind him. Hakuba just let out a quiet, resigned sigh and walked out without a word.

There were a few benches against the outside wall of the classroom building, protected from the cold drizzle by an overhang, and he took a seat, setting his bag down next to him. He opened the laptop only to shut it down then busied himself with packing it into his bag, flagrantly ignoring the dove all the while. He had a feeling it could tell. He was just about to get up again and head out onto the campus when the dove fluttered down from his shoulder and very purposefully pecked his hand.

"What?" Hakuba said to it, somewhat irritably. "What did I do?"

The dove, now that it had his attention, turned slightly where it was perched on his knee and lifted one foot to draw attention to the small roll of paper attached to its leg.

"Really," Hakuba said flatly, not trusting it. The dove immediately plucked at his sleeve, tugging at it with its beak and flapping in what he could only interpret as an urgent manner, and once again he conceded.

"Yes, all right. Let me see it."

The dove stilled instantly and Hakuba carefully removed the paper, unrolling it as the bird returned to his shoulder. He gave it a dubious glance out of the corner of his eye, then turned his focus to the small, printed, horizontal kanji on the slip of paper in his hands.

" _Kudou Shinichi has been shot. You could be next. Keep the dove with you. She can bring help to you if anything happens. Kaitou KID."_

Hakuba stared at the text several seconds past the point that he'd finished reading it, too many thoughts, theories, and conclusions colliding in his mind at once. Then it abruptly occurred to him that he should not be out in the open and should certainly not be on a college campus if someone was going to start shooting at him. He carefully tucked the slip of paper into a pocket and turned up his coat collar, shouldering his bag again and standing. He tried to appear calm and casual, or at least as casual as one could appear when one was walking around with a dove on one's shoulder, as he headed out into the misting rain. As he went, he pulled out his phone.

"Otou-san," he said as his call was answered, keeping his voice somewhat low. "I need your help. Do you know of any recent incidents involving Kudou Shinichi-kun?"

.

Kaito's back was pressed to the wall, leaning but tense where he stood tucked out of the way in a low-trafficked hallway, his hands stuffed into his pockets and his eyes closed. He'd been there for hours, just listening to the steady trickle of conversation through his earpiece as it picked up the voices all around the nurse on whom he'd managed to plant a listening device. It took a while, but he was finally, _finally_ getting some information on Shinichi through some of the behind the scenes gossip.

" _Just about ran out of that blood type again. Needed it all for a gunshot victim in surgery."_

" _I heard. And that someone just happened to donate more. Talk about lucky."_

" _Heh, actually I heard the donor knows the guy. Still… with that much blood loss… I guess you're right. He's been incredibly lucky so far."_

Kaito wasn't aware that he was holding his breath, hoping for more, but the conversation moved on and he pulled the earpiece out in frustration, switching it off. _I can't keep doing this,_ he told himself, though the thought was unsteady. He wasn't quite sure if he believed that. For the slightest chance at news, he would stand there listening all day, but it wouldn't help anything. There was something else he knew he should be doing instead.

 _A blood donor who knows Shinichi… and shares his blood type. Ran's got to be here somewhere. And any number of others, all waiting for news._

His mind made up, Kaito made his way back to the waiting room.

.

Eri stood, stretching her legs a little, and looked down at Ran still sitting in the chair beside her. "Do you want to come grab some coffee with me, Ran?" she asked. "Maybe see if we can find that useless father or yours around here somewhere?"

Ran shook her head. "No, I'll be all right here. You don't have to stay with me, Okaa-san. I know it's late."

"Don't be ridiculous. You shouldn't have to wait here alone. …How is Sonoko doing?"

Ran smiled a little. "She's furious with Shinichi for getting hurt the moment she goes out of town," she said, glancing down at her phone. "But Makoto-kun is keeping her somewhat calm."

Eri sighed a little and picked her purse up from her chair. "Are you sure you don't want anything? You still look a little pale." She reached out and brushed Ran's bangs aside gently. "I'll bring you some juice at least," she decided.

"Thanks, Okaa-san," Ran said, well aware that arguing that she was fine would be pointless. She went back to her text conversation with Sonoko and Makoto as Eri left the waiting room and didn't even notice when Kaito walked in until he spoke.

"Ran…"

She looked up immediately, startled, thinking for just a moment that it was Shinichi's voice she'd heard.

"Kaito!" She jolted to her feet and hurried up to him. "I tried to call you. Are you okay? Have you been here the whole time?" Her hand was on his arm, just a small gesture of comfort and support, and Kaito's eyes caught and held on the little bandage on the inside of her elbow. Abruptly, Kaito caught her up in a tight hug and, startled, she almost missed the "Thank you," he'd breathed out. She wrapped her arms around him, patient as he clung to her, trying to collect himself again, and when he finally did he pulled back and gave her a smile. Just a small one, but real and she smiled back.

Kaito glanced around the waiting room, entirely empty now that it was creeping past 2AM. "You're alone?" he said, guilt sinking heavily into whatever spaces he had left that fear and worry weren't already filling.

"My mom just stepped out and my dad is here somewhere… with the police, you know…" She wandered over to her chair again and sat down, nodding Kaito over to the seat beside her and picking up her phone again. "They contacted Shinichi's parents of course but they were in Hawaii. Their flight just got in a little while ago so they should be here soon. And Agasa-hakase. He was here but I think he went home to check on Ai-chan. I guess she wasn't feeling well, but… I think she might just be upset about the news. We… haven't told the other kids anything about it yet…"

Kaito nodded, thinking distantly that "scared" might be the more appropriate word for what Haibara would be feeling at that particular piece of news.

"Hattori-kun came in from Osaka," Ran went on. "He talked with Megure-keibu for a little while then went to meet Hakuba-kun… at the library…"

Kaito felt a chill run through him but he pushed it down quickly, nodding again, though somewhat numbly. _That idiot,_ he thought with biting frustration. _He went to the library? I tell him he's in danger and he jumps right into the middle of it. And what's worse, I should have seen it coming._ He leaned forward in his chair, propping his elbows on his knees, his hands dangling limply between them. He could practically feel Ran searching for tactful words beside him. "I haven't really heard anything yet," he said preemptively and Ran's posture quickly eased into something just slightly less tense. "I was with him when it happened," Kaito murmured. "But after they took him…" He shook his head a little. "From what I've heard, I think he's still in surgery but… They said he's been lucky so far, so that's good right?"

"Yeah," Ran sighed in a breathy little laugh. "That's the best news I've heard all day."

Kaito tactfully directed his eyes to the far corner of the room as Ran attempted to blink back a sudden welling of tears, flicking them away with her fingertips when she thought Kaito wasn't looking. She cleared her throat a little and said just for something to say, "I haven't seen Chikage-san or Aoko-chan. Are they here too?"

"I haven't told Aoko what happened yet," Kaito muttered, feeling that sense of guilt return with full force. She'd want to know, want to be there for him now, but he'd been so focused on Shinichi and the Organization… "Kaa-san's in Vegas," he said, changing the subject. "I called her but she didn't answer." He rubbed his hands over his face then through his hair, feeling suddenly exhausted. "I… wasn't really thinking at the time," he said. "I didn't really give her any information and my phone is dead so she doesn't have any way to contact me–" There was movement in the corner of his eye and he looked up to see Ran holding out her phone.

"Call her back, Kaito," she said, reaching over to press it into his hands when he didn't move. "Hang on to it as long as you need. Please."

"I don't know," Kaito said, laughing a little, but he was clasping the phone tight between his hands. "Seems pretty selfish to take everybody's lifeline away."

"Huh?"

"I don't think it's a coincidence that everybody told you where they were and where they were headed. You're an anchor, Ran. It's just the kind of person you are, and people are drawn to that when things get bad.

"But…" He stood and smiled down at her. "I _do_ need to call Kaa-san and let her know what's going on. The message I left her… Anyway, I'll bring it right back; how's that?"

Ran smiled up at him. "Of course."

.

Kaito went back up to the roof again, feeling much more stable and in control than he had when he'd gone up there hours earlier. He dialed in Chikage's number without hesitation and the call was answered right away, but no one spoke.

"Kaa-san?" Kaito said, and he heard her sigh of relief on the other end of the line.

"Kaito, are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm all right."

"And… Shinichi-kun…?"

Kaito pulled in a silent, calming breath. "I don't know yet," he answered. "But… Kaa-san… can I ask you something?"

"Anything, Kaito," Chikage said.

"…How do you do it? How can you stand to not go after them after they took Oyaji away from you?" His feet started a slow pace across the hospital roof, steps certain even in the darkness, and he pressed the phone a little harder against his ear as he waited for her answer.

Chikage paused, the silence somehow heavy before she answered, all hesitation gone, "If I went down that road – if I ever met up with that man – I would kill him."

Before Kaito could respond, even with the refutation on the tip of his tongue, she continued, "I'm not like your father… or like _you_ , Kaito. …But I do know that's not something Toichi would ever have wanted, so I live my life the way he wanted for me when he took Phantom Lady's place.

"And Kaito," she said, her voice softening with affection. "I know that for the same reason I could never go after them, you could never just let them go. So I need you to just promise me that you'll be careful. You and Shinichi-kun both. I won't lose you, too, all right?"

"Yeah," Kaito agreed. "We will be. It's a promise."

.

Kaito's thoughts were still on his conversation with Chikage when he walked back into the waiting room, so when he heard someone across the room cry out "Shinichi!" his head snapped up, eyes wide as he looked around for him, and he barely registered the woman running his way. She collided with him and her arms locked tightly around his back in a fierce hug as she buried her face against his shoulder.

"Um…" he tried, but it came out as a mostly unintelligible squeak and he swallowed hard before trying again. "Er, Kudou Yukiko-san, isn't it?" he said. The woman looked up immediately, staring into his face as he pulled back a little from her loosening grip. "I'm not Shinichi," he said.

She blinked at him, her eyes a little wet, then suddenly gasped, "You're Kaito-chan! You are, aren't you! Oh, Kaito-chan!" All at once she was latched on to him again and Kaito froze, throwing a panicked look around the waiting room for help. Ran wasn't there, but Kudou Yusaku was, walking toward them, perfectly composed. He put his hand on Yukiko's shoulder and she glanced back at him, her eyes huge and watery. Yusaku just held out his hand to her and she detached herself from Kaito to take it, stepping away from him to stand at Yusaku's side, his fingers squeezed tight in hers.

"Sorry, Kuroba-san," Yusaku said. "You probably don't remember us. We were close with your parents."

"I… I remember," Kaito managed.

Yusaku just nodded. "You know our son, it seems. Do you know where we might find him?"

Finally getting himself back in hand, Kaito straightened a little and was able to answer steadily, "I'm sorry; I don't know. We haven't heard anything."

There were a few long, tense seconds of silence while Yusaku scrutinized him, but Kaito had already reconstructed his masks, so he waited stoically for the man to come to a decision.

"You're a lot like your father," Yusaku eventually said. "I'm glad the two of you found each other."

Kaito met his eyes, immediately aware that Kudou Yusaku knew exactly who he was. The famous-detective-turned-mystery-writer had had it out with KID in his day and had surely known that it was Toichi – or at the very least must have realized it after Toichi's death and KID's disappearance. Kaito matched his gaze steadily, no apology there and no weakness, and Yusaku just smiled.

Then a nurse Kaito had determined in his reconnaissance to be involved in Shinichi's surgery passed by the waiting room and went to a nearby nurses' station. Kaito didn't even realize his mask had slipped again until his brain processed Yusaku turning to follow his gaze. He gave Kaito one last critical, lingering glance then walked away from him, Yukiko still close at his side, to speak with the nurse.

"Excuse me," he said, stepping up to him. "We're Kudou Shinichi's parents. Is there any news?"

Kaito stayed rooted to the spot where he was standing, his heart pounding hard and fast as the nurse spoke with the Kudous, sorting out the technicalities so that they could release information to them. A short time later, he saw the subtlest of lines ease on Yusaku's face, and Yukiko smiled a little. Relief threatened to fold his knees but he kept to his feet somehow as another nurse came up to show Yusaku and Yukiko through a door. Kaito's hand clenched into a fist, and he knew in a moment he'd run after them, giving up every semblance of control to beg them for news.

Before he could, Yusaku paused at the door. "Just a moment," he said to the nurse, and he turned back. "Kaito," he called, and Kaito blinked back at him, bewildered by the sudden use of his given name. "Come with us," he said.

"I'm sorry, sir. We can only let family–"

"It's all right," Yukiko said, cutting off the nurse and turning soft eyes onto Kaito. "He's our son, too. Come on, Kaito. They're going to let us see your brother."

Kaito waited, holding his breath, to see if the nurse would buy it, but the man only nodded and led the way through the door. Kaito hurried to follow, walking silently behind them and staring at Yusaku's and Yukiko's backs, filled with gratitude he knew he'd never be able to adequately express.

.

"Oh, Shin-chan!" Yukiko gasped as they were shown into a small, secluded hospital room. She made to rush forward but Yusaku caught her shoulders and guided her to a chair instead. She collapsed into it, sobbing into her hands, and Yusaku stood beside her, keeping a steady hand on her back.

Kaito had frozen, barely inside the doorway. Shinichi was lying on a narrow white bed, IV in his arm, oxygen mask obscuring most of his face, heart monitor beeping. He was so, _so_ pale…

After too long a silence, Yusaku turned back to Kaito. "You're with friends," he said. "This is not a time for poker faces."

Kaito just stared and his vision started to blur. He blinked hard, clearing away unformed tears, and tried to pretend he had not just imagined his father standing there.

Taking in a breath for probably the first time since he'd stepped into the room, Kaito moved around to the other side of the bed and pulled up another chair, sinking down into it, his eyes locked on Shinichi the entire time. He held himself perfectly still, trying not to be so obvious as to take Shinichi's hand and hope he'd wake from the touch.

Yusaku sat down in the chair beside Yukiko's, watching Kaito carefully. "Kuroba-san–"

"Please, 'Kaito' is fine," Kaito said immediately. He tore his eyes away from Shinichi to look up at him. "And thank you… for lying for me like that."

Yusaku just nodded a little. "Is there something you'd like to tell us, Kaito-kun?" he asked. Yukiko finally looked up from her crying to regard Yusaku curiously. Kaito tried for a smile.

"He promised he'd introduce me to you guys the next time you were in Japan," he said with shaky laughter. "I guess I can let him out of it though." He took in a breath to steady himself. "Yusaku-san, Yukiko-san, it's nice to meet you again… and officially. I'm Kuroba Kaito. I'm Shinichi's boyfriend."

Yusaku smiled, not surprised in the least, but Yukiko suddenly jumped up and ran around the bed to hug Kaito's head to her chest with an impressive amount of force. "Oh, Kaito-chan, that's wonderful!" she cried. "I'm so glad it's you!"

"Er… thanks," Kaito managed, edging back just a little as soon as she'd released him.

"You have to tell us _everything_!" she insisted, bright and eager.

"Um…" Kaito's eyes shifted over to Shinichi again, lying still and quiet in the hospital bed.

"Shinichi is inconsiderate," Yusaku told him as Yukiko returned to her seat, eyes still dancing over Kaito in a somewhat predatory manner. "He'll take his time waking up. But he's strong. He'll be all right."

Kaito's expression softened with a small smile. "…Yeah."

"So then," Yukiko said, impatient though she was still beaming at him. "How did you two meet?"

.

Yukiko had questioned Kaito relentlessly and he answered and stuck to the truth as much as possible, but there was only so much he could do. After all, so much of their relationship was based on the fact that he was the Kaitou KID. Still, it wasn't like they didn't have established stories in place. They'd had to tell their friends _something_. Even so, Yusaku had just looked so _amused_ during the whole conversation, and Kaito made a mental note to go over their story with Shinichi again to avoid any inconsistencies in the future. It was a lost cause – Yusaku obviously _knew –_ but it was a point of professional pride as much as anything.

The Kudous had left after that. They'd come to the hospital straight from the airport, but with Shinichi's condition stable they'd thought it best to go back for the luggage they'd abandoned and head to the Kudou manor to get a few hours of rest before returning.

Kaito had stayed. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had to acknowledge the weariness of The Longest Day Ever, but it was easy to ignore every time he glanced at Shinichi and imagined him waking up.

He'd been a little nervous when a police officer he didn't readily recognize poked his head into the room a while later – he wasn't actually "family" and anyone who knew Shinichi could call him out on it at any time – but the officer had only introduced himself as Nogimura from the MPD and informed Kaito that he'd be stationed outside of Shinichi's room as a precaution.

The next hour crept by in slow silence, the sky subtly brightening to grey through the window behind him, but he hardly noticed. His mind was a scattershot of worry and determination, exhaustion and muted anger, and part of him was tempted to tip back behind the KID persona – to just run off and hide behind that mask for an hour to keep from being overwhelmed… and to try to find Snake…

Kaito mentally shook himself and dragged his hands down over his face. All this sitting around in uncertain silence was giving him entirely too much time to think.

.

Kaito had produced a deck of cards and was tripping quickly through a series of tricks to keep his hands busy when a nurse stopped by the room.

"Kudou Kaito-san?" she asked, and Kaito was caught off guard by the unexpected address, starting slightly and dropping a few of the cards.

"Uh, yes?" he mumbled, crouching to pick them up as he fought down a sudden blush.

"There's an Agasa Hiroshi-san asking for you. He's in the waiting room."

He straightened up and the cards in his hands all vanished, the trick so instinctual that he didn't even realize he'd done it. The nurse hardly batted an eye.

"Oh, um, he can't come in?" Kaito asked.

"Only family and the police, I'm afraid," she answered, moving into the room to check on Shinichi.

"Oh. Right. Okay, thank you." He cast a lingering glance back at Shinichi before heading out into the hall, nodding to Nogimura as he passed. The officer smiled a little and raised a hand in greeting, and Kaito noted again in some corner of his mind the burn scars on the man's skin.

Agasa and Haibara were sitting in a corner of the waiting room, speaking to each other in hushed tones with serious expressions, but when they spotted Kaito they stood and Agasa tried for a smile.

"What did the doctors say?" Haibara asked without preamble. Her arms were crossed tightly and her body was tense, a scowl set on her face. She didn't bother pretending everything – or even _anything_ – was okay about this situation, and Kaito appreciated that.

"They said he was lucky," he told her. "They're… not sure when he'll wake up."

For a long time, Haibara didn't say anything, just contemplated the floor with that same serious expression. Agasa watched her with concern. Then she dug into the messenger bag slung over her shoulder and pulled out a phone charger, tossing it to Kaito. He bobbled it, startled, but managed not to drop it, and he blinked down at her in confusion.

"You're a wreck," she said, merciless. "I tried to call you to find out what happened after we heard, but it went straight to voicemail. I found your charger at Kudou-kun's house."

"…Thank you, Haibara-san."

"So? What _did_ happen?" she demanded.

Kaito sighed and took an unnecessary glance around the still empty waiting room. "It looked like a hit," he told her. "I know the shooter. Organization. But he's from a branch that's after Pandora and KID. They've never shown any particular interest in Shinichi until now. I'm not sure yet if it has something to do with the other branches or if they just want him out of the way at my heists, since the last couple of times they showed up…" He sighed again, rubbing at his eyes with the fingers of one hand, trying to think clearly. "Yeah," he decided. "Every time they've shown up since Shinichi's been back has ended in their arrest and my survival. I guess they've finally had enough."

"And where is the shooter now?"

"…I don't know."

"Hm. What good is teaming up with someone like you when you keep letting these people pull vanishing acts."

Kaito closed his eyes, silently quelling the defensive anger that had immediately risen at the snide remark, and considered the situation, looking at his choice directly for the first time since he'd made it.

"Some things are more important," he finally answered. "I stayed with Shinichi. I'd do it again."

There was a wry quirk to Haibara's lips and her eyes flashed with some emotion Kaito wasn't sure he understood, but all she said was, "Good." He raised an eyebrow at her but refrained from commenting.

"Right. I'm going back to Shinichi," Kaito said. "Thanks again for the charger. Oh," He tucked the cord into a pocket and pulled out Ran's phone. "I'm not sure where Ran went but could you give this back to her if you see her? And tell her thanks." He handed the phone over to Agasa.

"Of course," he said. "But Kaito-kun… How are you allowed into Shinichi's room? They told us only family and the police could see him."

"Well," Haibara said with a smirk. "If I had to guess I'd say it's easiest for Kuroba-kun to pretend to be family rather than a police officer. Or are you 'hospital staff'?" she asked him, but Kaito had stopped listening. His face had gone blank and his body had gone unnaturally still.

"Pretending…?" he murmured. Then he turned and ran from the waiting room at top speed and Agasa and Haibara were left blinking after him in startled alarm.

 _Tch, that would be just his luck,_ Kaito thought as he shot around a corner, narrowly missing a nurse and ignoring the shouts rising in his wake. _That officer or that nurse… Anyone here could be Organization. He shouldn't be left alone._ The thought felt paranoid, but at the same time he _knew_ something wasn't right, and his heart shook with a jolt of panic when he saw the door to Shinichi's room standing closed and unguarded ahead of him.

Kaito banged into the room and didn't even have to break his momentum to take in the unconscious nurse on the floor and the oxygen mask hanging down beside the bed. The heart monitor was dark and silent – _turned off,_ a helpfully quick part of his brain pointed out. Not flat-lined, just turned off.

Nogimura was leaning over Shinichi with his back to the door and Kaito couldn't see exactly what he was doing but he wasn't taking any chances. He grabbed the man and wrenched him away from the bed, taking advantage of the momentum to get him off balance. They both crashed to the floor and Kaito had him pinned in seconds. Nogimura was bigger than him, and by all rights stronger, but Kaito had surprise and desperation on his side, and a gun suddenly in each of his hands, and absolutely no patience for any of this any longer.

"Where is Snake?" he demanded, the barrel of the card gun pointed down into Nogimura's face and Nogimura's department-issue sidearm in his other hand, pointed carefully at the ceiling with his finger resting alongside the trigger.

"You're… the Kaitou KID," Nogimura said, staring at the card gun. The words were the slightest bit muddled from swelling in Nogimura's cheek that Kaito hadn't caused.

 _The nurse, then,_ he calculated. _Was she fighting back or attacking? Need to be certain. Need to make sure I have the right one…_

"I've got the detective's boyfriend sleeping in a bathroom. I came here for _you,_ " KID bluffed, clicking the safety off on the handgun for good measure. "Tell me where Snake is."

"I don't know," Nogimura replied, his eyes skating over to KID's left hand. "He called me a few hours ago to see if I could get in here."

There were urgent, raised voices approaching in the hall and Kaito swore under his breath. He didn't have much with him in the way of supplies, but Shinichi's things were collected neatly on the counter nearby and he pointed the handgun down at Nogimura so he could vanish the card gun and reach up to grab Shinichi's watch. A second later, Nogimura was out and Kaito's fingers felt slightly numb as he reengaged the safety on the gun and let out a harsh breath. He didn't have to fake the tremors running through him as a nurse and two hospital security officers ran into the room but he did not get off of Nogimura until the officers grabbed him and hauled him to his feet, yanking the gun from his hand. He didn't resist.

"He was doing something to Shinichi. Please, make sure he's all right," Kaito said, but the nurse was already at Shinichi's bedside, checking and reattaching equipment. The heart monitor started up again just as a doctor hurried into the room, stooping to check the nurse on the floor. The slow, steady beep from the revived machine was such a relief that Kaito's legs almost folded under him, but he forced himself stable again when the nurse tending Shinichi went to Nogimura next.

"Leave him," Kaito bit out, and the security officers tightened their hold on his arms and pulled him back some, away from Nogimura. "You need to get Megure-keibu in here," he told them, making a feeble attempt to stand his ground. The room seemed to be… tilting somewhat.

"What the hell is going on?" a familiar voice demanded from behind Kaito. Megure pushed his way into the small and rapidly crowding hospital room and Kaito gave him a faint smile.

"Megure-keibu…" he said, the name flooded with relief.

Then he blacked out.

.

In retrospect, he really had been awake too long. He'd seen Shinichi shot. Watched his blood pool with the rainwater on the sidewalk in front of the library. He'd watched Snake walk away, and he'd _repressed_ just everything because that was what he did. Time for that later. Always time for "dealing with it" _later_.

But probably it was the adrenaline rush that had pushed him over the edge – that had overwhelmed him and left him drained after Nogimura was unconscious. After Shinichi was safe.

It all boiled down to one simple fact.

"Dammit, I passed out, didn't I?" Kaito murmured, dragging himself upright in the random hospital bed in a random room somewhere.

"I don't know; I was out, too."

Kaito glanced over and saw the nurse who had come in to check on Shinichi before Nogimura had made his move sitting on the edge of the bed beside his. She was holding an icepack to her head but there was a little smile on her face.

"You tried to stop him. That officer, Nogimura," Kaito said, swinging his feet over the side of the bed to face her.

"I would have called for help if I'd realized it sooner," she answered, looking a little sheepish. "As it was, I could only get a hit in when he grabbed me. I guess a purple belt in karate wasn't enough. I know I've got a lot of improving to do, heh."

"If you hadn't been there, Shinichi might have been killed." He smiled at her. "Thank you." Kaito started to stand but his legs still felt shaky and he thought better of it, sitting again and trying to remember the last time he'd so much as thought about getting some food or water. He breathed out a laugh that was almost a sigh. He and Shinichi really were two of kind – both completely stupid about the simplest things sometimes. A pang of loneliness pressed through his chest at the thought but he pushed it down, unconsciously and automatically tucking it away somewhere.

"You know, you boys have been the talk of the hospital," the nurse said. "Ishioka-kun says he's met you before."

"Oh! That nurse from the train bombing, right?"

She nodded. "He told me all about it back then – that some crazy magician and detective turned up out of nowhere and just went right to work helping everybody."

"Heh…" Kaito's hand went to the back of his head. "I guess that must have been how it seemed, huh?"

"But I think he's right. You must be crazy."

Kaito's smile faltered a little. "Uh…"

"You came in with Kudou-san when he was shot, didn't you? You must have been there when it happened. And you haven't left since then. They told me you fought off that officer… I don't understand what's keeping you going."

"…Me neither," Kaito confessed. "But you don't have to understand something to live it, right?" He let out another, slightly wistful sigh. "Heh… Shinichi would have something to say about that, I bet," he murmured. "Dammit, he needs to wake up already."

"…You're not actually his brother, are you," the nurse said, watching him with kind eyes. Kaito kept his face strictly neutral as he glanced up at her again. "I'm not going to rat you out," she said. "You saved his life. And Kudou-san's parents let you in. It's really none of my business; I was just wondering."

"It's Kuroba," Kaito admitted.

"Kuroba-san," the nurse repeated, trying it out. Then, "Like Kuroba Toichi-san?"

Kaito brightened some. "Yeah."

She smiled. "I'm Kasai Tomohiro. It's good to meet you, Kuroba-san. And thanks. I think you probably saved my life back there."

Kaito returned the smile. "Nice to meet you, Kasai-san."

"Come on," she said, standing and tossing the icepack onto the bed. "I'll show you back to Kudou-san's room if you're feeling up to it."

"Yeah," Kaito replied instantly, getting to his feet. "Thanks."

.

Takagi and Sato were both standing watch outside of Shinichi's room when Kaito came back.

"Kuroba-kun! Are you all right?" Takagi asked as Kaito walked up.

"Yeah," Kaito answered. "Thanks." His eyes moved to the doorway behind Takagi, and Sato cleared her throat quietly but conspicuously to get his attention.

"Listen, Kuroba-kun," she said. "Division One asked the hospital to set limits on who could see Kudou-kun for his own protection but… well, we can all see how that turned out. Megure-keibu revised the rule. We've set up a rotation of only a few officers we've all known for a long time – people we trust – and the watch will be in pairs from now on. He'll be safe."

Kaito nodded, grateful for their help, but there was an uneasy tension building inside of him. They all knew he wasn't family, and if he played by the rules it could be a while before he'd get to see Shinichi again.

Before he could form a plan to get around that, Takagi put his hand on Kaito's shoulder. "Kuroba-kun, it's okay. We've also been given a list of people with clearance to see him. You're on it. We know he's safe with you."

Kaito blinked back at him, more than a little surprised. "R-Really?" he asked, sounding pitifully hopeful and not really caring.

"Of course, Kuroba-kun," Sato said. "Go ahead. You can stay as long as you like. We'll be right out here if you need anything."

Kaito swallowed hard and nodded again. "Thank you," he managed.

.

The room was dim, the lights low and the blinds closed. Shinichi looked just the same – like nothing had even happened. Kaito walked around the bed and sank down into the seat he'd occupied earlier. Without really thinking about it, he pulled out his phone to check the time, unsure of how long he'd been gone, but it was still dead. It was an unreasonable thing to get frustrated about, especially considering that his charger was still in his pocket and there was an outlet right by his chair, but that didn't stop him from feeling it anyway. He plugged in the phone and it slowly revived.

 _I wasn't out very long,_ he thought, glancing at the time as he scrolled through the myriad of missed calls from Chikage and Ran and Haibara and Aoko. There was an unread text waiting as well and he tapped it open then froze, caught entirely off guard. It was from Shinichi, sent just a handful of minutes before he'd been shot.

" _Hey are you ok?"_

Kaito didn't stop the shaky little laugh that bubbled up inside him. "Shinichi…" he breathed out, clutching the phone tight. "When are you gonna wake up?"

Movement by the door made him look up and he saw Sato carefully and quietly easing the door shut to give him some privacy.

"Heh, you know, these officers in Division One… they're really growing on me," Kaito murmured.

It felt good, he reflected. Talking to Shinichi. Even if he couldn't hear him. Couldn't answer. "I only just placed where I'd seen Nogimura before," he went on, keeping his voice low. He set the phone down, finally relaxing somewhat. "He was at that Organization compound – the one where they were researching the Apoptoxin. You saw him, too, I think. He didn't have the scars then. Probably got caught in one of the explosions… Serves him right," he muttered, and he wanted to mean it, but even now he didn't think he could. Not really.

Kaito breathed out a sigh and carefully reached out to take Shinichi's hand in both of his, fingertips trailing just lightly over his skin, a little too cool to the touch. He folded forward slightly in his chair, letting his eyes close for just a moment.

His head snapped up again abruptly when he felt Shinichi move.

"Shinichi?" Kaito whispered, his voice breaking just a little.

Shinichi's eyes opened but they were obviously unfocused. It took him a few blinks to clear them, but once he had he looked over at Kaito who was grinning broadly at him from the chair next to the bed. Shinichi reached up to remove the oxygen mask and Kaito didn't stop him.

"Where…?" he croaked, and his throat felt rough and uncomfortable. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before trying again. "Where are we?"

Kaito raised an eyebrow at him over a comfortable smirk and Shinichi squeezed his eyes shut once again, trying to think clearly. "No, wait, stupid question," he muttered. He glanced over Kaito again and added flatly, "You look like hell."

"Why does everybody feel the need to point that out to me lately?" Kaito replied, but he kept his voice low, glancing toward the door with just a brief flicker of his eyes. It was probably the most selfish thing he'd do yet, but he wanted some time with Shinichi. Just… some time alone with him before they knew he was awake and it was all people and doctors and tests. "I know I'm a mess," he continued casually. Quietly. "It's not making headlines."

"Heh, how long have I been out?" Shinichi asked, instinctively keeping his voice down as well.

"Maybe sixteen hours or so. I mean, I know you like to sleep in, Shinichi, but come on."

"And you've been here the whole time. Of course."

"Don't give me that look. If it was me lying there you'd do the same thing, wouldn't you?"

Shinichi didn't bother to answer. He knew Kaito wouldn't have even said it if he didn't already know it was true. He let out a shallow sigh, wincing a little, and his hand fumbled for something around the edge of the bed.

"What are you–?"

"Help me sit up, would you?" he said.

Kaito laughed a little. "You sure?" At Shinichi's flat look, Kaito conceded. "All right, all right." He found the remote attached to the bed and slowly levered it up so that it was still mostly reclined but Shinichi could at least look around.

He was quiet for a few moments, then asked slowly, "I got shot, right?"

"Those are some good drugs they have you on, huh?" Kaito reached out to push Shinichi's hair away from his eyes. "Yeah, you got shot."

"You were there…" he murmured, visibly struggling to call up the memory. "Are you okay?"

Kaito laughed again, but this time Shinichi thought it sounded slightly off. "Of course I am. No one had any reason to shoot Kuroba Kaito, you know? Famous young upstart detective Kudou Shinichi on the other hand…" His tone was light, but Shinichi could see the stress there, just below the surface. He reached out for Kaito's hand and Kaito quickly closed the distance for him so he would not have to strain. His fingers curled tightly around Shinichi's.

"Kaito…"

"Could you _please_ stop getting shot?" Kaito said, his smile a little faltering. "I'm not sure my heart can take it."

"Come on," Shinichi said gently. "I don't get shot that often."

"Oh yeah? You got shot in the eye during the Scorpion case. You know. Just _before_ a burning castle fell on your head."

"You know that wasn't–" Shinichi started but Kaito charged on in a slightly agitated whisper, "What about that time you chased a couple of armed robbers into those caves?"

"We didn't _chase_ –"

"How 'bout wearing a bomb on your wrist all day? Oh, and falling off a bridge, breaking your leg, and landing unconscious in a river?"

"You can't just–" Shinichi tried again to no avail.

"Getting thrown out of an airship, I gotta say that one's pretty unique. But then of course you got back _on_ the airship and proceeded to get shot _several times over_. Really just damn lucky it wasn't worse that time. And, now that I think about it, didn't you run across a burning bridge only to collapse in the snow outside the lodge that time with the magicians' gathering?"

"Kaito–"

"You almost drowned at Lake Rock. I honestly thought I was gonna have to go back in to find you, or to find your body. Do you know what that felt like, when I was the one who left you behind?"

"That's _not_ how it was. You _had_ to–"

"And let's not forget getting blown up at the Organization compound, getting shot at the Mariner's Sorrow heist _and_ the Winter Cherry heist, not to mention falling off the roof–"

"Hey–!"

"And _kidnapped_ , Tantei-kun. Kidnapped. And not by me. You can't even go the _library_ without getting into some kind of trouble."

"…Are you done?" Shinichi asked when Kaito finally stopped to breathe. "You _know_ I could turn this around on you." But he didn't try. He was tired. So incredibly tired, so he just squeezed Kaito's hand, hoping to ease the tension he could see all through him.

"Hey, I don't get hurt nearly as often as you," he muttered stubbornly, but he already seemed a little more relaxed.

"You get shot at a lot more though," Shinichi countered, offhand.

"And what does that tell you?"

"That you barely know the meaning of the word 'discrete'?" Shinichi quipped and Kaito suddenly grinned, his whole face brightening. Shinichi breathed out a little laugh and closed his eyes.

"You're injured, so I'm going to ignore that grievous insult," Kaito said. "But seriously Shinichi, I've only been shot _once_ and you–"

"There is no way I'll believe that you've only ever been shot once," Shinichi interrupted, his tone brooking no argument even though he didn't bother to open his eyes. "I've seen the scars."

"…Once since we've been dating," Kaito revised.

Shinichi was quiet for a while, and he had to concentrate a lot harder than he should have needed to to make sure he was remembering things correctly before he said, "We weren't dating yet the night you got shot."

"Maybe _you_ weren't…" Kaito muttered.

Shinichi's eyes opened. "…What."

" _Nooothiiing_ ," Kaito said, the word drawn out with petulant impatience.

"Kaito…" Shinichi warned.

"Oh come on, Tantei-kun."

"Kaito. The art museum? The puzzle locks? Really? That's not how you…" He paused, fishing around for another word, but resigned himself in the end and finished, " _court_ someone."

"You enjoyed it," Kaito insisted, grinning.

"Kaito…"

"Shinichi…" he mimicked quietly. "Admit it; you had fun."

The longsuffering sigh caught in Shinichi's aching chest so he rolled his eyes instead, but he was smiling and just couldn't seem to stop. He could blame that on the drugs. And how adorable Kaito could be sometimes. _Drugs._ He reaffirmed the claim in his mind like he was biting out a curse and his face scrunched up in frustration. His mind felt muddled. It was so much effort just to _think_.

Kaito's hand was suddenly on his forehead, gentle and soothing, and Shinichi relaxed again. Kaito leaned over the bed and touched a brief, light kiss to his lips. "Are you okay?" he asked, his thumb smoothing softly across Shinichi's forehead.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Shinichi sighed. "Better if I could form a coherent thought."

"Hmm, I don't know," Kaito mused, sitting back in his chair again and looking Shinichi over appraisingly. "You're really cute when you're all dazed and confused."

"I'm not confused," Shinichi grumbled. "I'm frustrated. …Who shot me?"

Cold hate flickered across Kaito's face but he didn't answer.

"…What?" Shinichi asked. "Organization, right? I mean I figured. …Was it Gin?"

"It was Snake." The words were blunt and tightly controlled and Kaito's eyes were fixed on the floor. "He got away."

Shinichi tilted his head back into the too-crisp pillow with a frustrated sigh. "Sorry Kaito."

Kaito's eyes flickered in his direction for just a second and he sat completely still before he was suddenly on his feet again. Then, somehow without jarring the bed at all, he had a knee up on the mattress and was carefully, subtly holding Shinichi still as he kissed him with an urgent fervor that had Shinichi's fingers flinching closed around the sheet. His heart jumped painfully but he was grateful for it – for the kiss, the pain, all of it.

Kaito pulled back again too soon but even so, Shinichi's breathing was strained. Kaito just ran a soothing hand through his hair and touched his forehead to Shinichi's, waiting silently for him to level himself out.

"So… _not_ sorry, then?" Shinichi managed after just a few moments, licking his chapped lips, and Kaito gave a little laugh.

"Yeah." He slipped off of the bed and returned to the chair, throwing himself into it and slouching casually with a little smile. Like nothing had happened. Shinichi looked away, reasoning that he should at least pretend to disapprove, but he couldn't help the smile on his own face either. His eyes trailed down to the IV in his arm, then over to the heart monitor beside the bed. Tentatively he reached up to touch the bandages at his chest and saw Kaito watching him carefully out of the corner of his eye.

"…How bad was it?" Shinichi asked.

Kaito's hand tensed on the armrest of the chair. "…Pretty bad." He didn't want to meet Shinichi's eyes, but he could feel his gaze on him.

"…Well I guess some of your luck rubbed off on me then, 'cause I feel fine," Shinichi said, just a hint of his old arrogance coloring the words.

"You're pale as death and you could barely breathe a minute ago," Kaito argued, looking up again, encouraged by Shinichi's attitude.

"Whose fault was that?" Shinichi shot back, just barely remembering to keep his voice down, though he still wasn't sure why.

"Don't worry; you were fine. I was paying attention," Kaito said, waving his words away. "They wouldn't have let me in here if they couldn't trust me to keep you safe. Literally. They actually said that to me – they said: 'We know he's safe with you.'" He was grinning and looking just disturbingly proud. "Isn't that adorable?" he continued in a fond whisper. "I'm telling you, these Division One officers, I might just have to adopt them." The grin was suddenly KID's sharp-edged warning of mischief and Shinichi made a mental note to keep a closer eye on those officers if they ever turned up at a heist.

"Wait, so… Division One? There are officers here?"

"Yeah, Shinichi," Kaito said, sobering somewhat. "It's pretty obvious somebody wants you dead. They're not stupid. Two attempts on your life in the span of twenty-four hours–"

"Wait, _two_?"

Kaito paused then sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I don't have facts here," he warned. "Just speculation. But from what I've observed – and this is going back much further than yesterday – Megure-keibu knew something was up. After you got out of surgery he had an officer posted outside your door, and nobody but the police and family were allowed in to see you. But then the second I left the room, the officer standing watch knocked out the nurse and tried to kill you. Turns out he was working for Snake. I guess there are still a few Organization members left undercover in the police force. Probably got in the way Nozue and Minekawa-san did a while back. It's a lot harder to weed those ones out but the process they used to get in would have been expensive, and it would have taken time. There shouldn't be too many more like that left. I guess that's why they were giving that other method a shot – the one Nozue tried to pull off. It's cheap and quick but a lot more risky."

"Hang on a second… You're not family. How did _you_ get in here? Not that you couldn't get in here. Do they _know_ you're in here?"

Kaito flashed him another grin. "Calm down, Tantei-kun. I didn't do anything illicit. I didn't have to. Your parents were nice enough to claim me."

Shinichi's skin seemed to lose what little color it had. "My _parents_?"

Kaito took Shinichi's hand, holding it tight, and placed a gentle kiss on his knuckles. "Calm down, Shinichi," he murmured, insistent. "That's not the point. The point is, Megure's not letting anybody he doesn't know and trust personally anywhere near you anymore. But he's not going to let you skirt the issue anymore either. You're gonna have to tell him what's been going on."

Shinichi glanced over, meeting Kaito's eyes for a long moment. "So then," he said. "I guess it's time, isn't it. We're going on the offensive."

Kaito nodded. "We'll start the planning process," he answered. "But any action we take is going to wait until you're fully recovered."

Shinichi nodded back. "Yeah."

"It'll be good," Kaito whispered with a little smirk. "It's nothing we haven't handled before, and this time we'll have the upper hand." He stood and leaned over Shinichi again to steal another careful kiss.

"I love you," Shinichi murmured with a small smile, his thumb smoothing across the back of Kaito's hand.

Kaito touched his forehead to Shinichi's again. "I love you, too."

The door to the room banged open and both boys jumped, Kaito just barely stopping himself from reaching for the card gun.

"Shin-chan!" Yukiko cried, rushing into the room and throwing herself on Shinichi.

"Ow," Shinichi mumbled into the stranglehold she had on his head. Kaito just squeezed his hand with a small, sympathetic smile.

"Good morning," Yusaku said to the room at large, trailing in after Yukiko but not bothering to remove her from Shinichi. "Seems we missed all the excitement. How long have you been awake?"

"Maybe a _minute_ ," Shinichi lied sourly as Yukiko finally took a step back from him. Kaito very subtly reached down to press the call button attached to Shinichi's bed like he should have when he'd first woken up.

"Shinichi," Yukiko started, leveling a very serious look at him. "Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?"

"Because I've been unconscious?" he tried, cringing just a little.

She tapped his cheek lightly with the back of her hand. " _Before_ that, Shinichi. Kai-chan tells me you've been dating for over a _year_."

"'Kai-chan'?" Shinichi snickered, throwing him a gleeful glance.

"Answer the question, Shinichi," Yukiko warned.

"Er, because you were out of the country and it seemed like news that would be better delivered in person?"

Kaito stifled a laugh. Just when he thought Shinichi had become a capable liar–

"Aw, that's sweet of you, Shin-chan," Yukiko crooned, and Kaito's jaw almost dropped.

 _Okay, maybe he just knows how to handle his mother,_ he thought, his surprise replaced with a wry smirk.

"But don't do it again," she added, hands on her hips.

"Don't worry Yukiko-san," Kaito cut in. "I don't intend for there to be much opportunity for Shinichi to repeat that particular mistake." He smiled at her, all charm, and Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"Of course there will be!" she replied instantly.

To Kaito's credit, he did not react, and the charming smile remained even as Shinichi's eyes darted back to his mother. "What–?" he started, already defensive, but she was grinning as she continued, "I don't want to leave and come back to find out you two have gotten married and not told us!"

Shinichi relaxed immediately, switching from defensive to exasperated in a second. "Kaa-san–"

"No, she's right, Shinichi," Kaito said. "It would be awful of us not to tell her, so we should do it right away. Yukiko-san, Shinichi and I are getting married in May, right after his birthday."

"K-Kaito!" Shinichi choked out, and his face finally had some color to it as he blushed and stammered, "W-What are you–?"

"Absolutely not!" Yukiko cut in. "It's far too soon for the two of you to–"

"Relax," Kaito soothed, an easy grin on his face. "Both of you. I was just kidding. It's only fair."

Yukiko narrowed her eyes at him, a slow smirk coming to her face. "Oh, I like him, Shin-chan. You should keep him. You're so like your father, Kai-chan; I can't say it enough."

"Thank you."

There was a light tap at the open door. "Excuse me," a nurse said, he and a doctor stepping inside. "We're here to check on Kudou-san."

"We'll get out of your way," Yusaku offered. He put an arm around Yukiko's shoulders and started guiding her toward the door.

"Oh, but we just got here," she pouted, but she went with him out into the hallway.

Kaito gave Shinichi's hand another squeeze. "See you soon," he said, and Shinichi didn't bother arguing that he should go home and rest.

"Yeah," he answered with a tired smile.

Sato and Takagi had both come into the room and Kaito paused beside them on his way out. "Thank you," he said again.

"Don't worry, Kuroba-kun," Takagi replied. "We'll make sure he's safe."

Kaito smiled back at him. "I know."

.

Kaito was literally elbow-deep in the inner mechanics of the old but well-kept car that had been assigned to him when Nojima sidled up beside it, idly polishing a nonexistent speck of dirt from the front wheel well. "So, Kuroba," he said casually. "You seem to be in a good mood lately… How is Kudou-kun doing?"

Kaito straightened up, ignoring the grease and dirt streaking his skin, and gave Nojima an amused glance. "Better," he said. "He's already pissed that he's stuck in the hospital but…" He shrugged, shaking his head a little with a wry half smile. It had only been a few days. Shinichi wasn't even allowed – or really _able_ – to stand up for any length of time. He would be there for a while yet.

"It sounds like he's got his energy back," Arakawa commented, smiling as she walked by, heading for a shelf along the garage wall loaded up with different kinds of engine oil.

"Tire rotation in bay two!" someone called from the front of the shop.

"Aw, I guess that's me," Nojima said. He swung his rag over his shoulder and leaned in toward Kaito. "Hey, you'll be sure to let me know if there's any news on who did it, right? But if they don't get 'em soon, I bet your boy'll track 'em down himself, huh?" He clapped Kaito on the shoulder with a grin and wandered off toward the front of the shop and Kaito ducked back under the hood, smirking. If anybody was going to track down Snake, it would be him. And he was already working on the plan for that.

It was only a few minutes later that Sugawara came looking for him. "Hey, Kuroba…" he said, glancing over his shoulder as Kaito emerged again from the engine of the car. "There's a detective asking for you out front…"

"Gonna have to narrow that down for me," Kaito laughed, pulling a rag from the pocket of his coveralls and wiping at his hands as best he could.

"Tall guy," Sugawara said. "Fancy hair. You know him?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so." Kaito's eyebrows pulled down a little in confusion. "Thanks. I'll be right back." He headed out to the front of the shop and saw Shiratori standing by his car waiting for him.

"Kuroba-kun," he said. "Sorry to call on you at work, but we need you to come down to the station as soon as possible."

"Sure," Kaito answered with carefully measured hesitation. "Is something up?"

"No, it's probably nothing," Shiratori said casually. "We just need to clear up a few things regarding the attack on Kudou-kun at the hospital."

 _And it needs to be right now, huh. Yeah, sure it's probably nothing,_ Kaito thought with an undetectable mental eye roll. "Yeah, I just need to let my manager know," he said. "I'll be right back."

"I could talk to him if you need," Shiratori offered, maybe just a little too quickly.

"No, that's all right," Kaito replied with a smile. "He's pretty understanding and he knows what's been going on. It should be fine. It'll just take a minute."

Kaito found his manager quickly and, as he'd expected, was met with only reassurance and concern over the situation. After some reassuring of his own, Kaito hurried off to the makeshift locker room in the back of the shop to shed his coveralls and clean up a little. But he didn't immediately return to Shiratori. Instead he pulled out his phone to text both Chikage and Jii, then Shinichi.

" _Shiratori showed up at the shop. He's acting a little strange. Asked me to come to the station. Probably nothing. I'll keep you posted. I let Kaa-san and Jii-chan know too so no need to worry."_

 _Careful,_ Kaito thought as he sent the text and shoved his phone back into his pocket, heading back out to the front of the shop where Shiratori was waiting. _As promised… With any luck I'm just overthinking it._

.

Shiratori opened the door for Kaito and gestured him inside. He didn't follow him in, just closed the door behind him, leaving Kaito alone in an interrogation room with Megure, who was waiting for him at the table. Kaito walked to the one chair opposite the inspector as if this were not extremely unusual.

"What's going on, Inspector," Kaito asked, taking his seat

"I'll get right to it, Kuroba-kun," Megure said, and his tone wasn't the one he usually used with civilians. Instincts bristling, KID promptly settled his mind into the appropriate persona of the innocent, concerned prankster boyfriend of the targeted prodigy detective and waited for the accusation he felt coming.

"When we questioned Nogimura," Megure continued. "He told us that Kaitou KID came into Kudou-kun's room and attacked him – Nogimura, that is."

KID's eyebrows went up. "That's a little hard to imagine," he laughed. "Though I do have a _very_ good imagination, and actually, Kaitou KID sweeping in to rescue Shinichi? Yeah, I could get a lot of mileage out of that particular fantasy," he said with an easy grin.

Megure was unfazed. "This is serious, Kuroba-kun," he said. "We know you and Kasai-san, the nurse, were the only ones in there with him. It was definitely you. The security guards pulled _you_ off of Nogimura and then you passed out and we took you to another room. A nurse and an officer stayed with you and Kasai-san until Kasai-san woke up and let us know what happened. You were never alone. There was no opportunity for a switch. So why does this man think he was attacked by KID? He didn't have any reason to lie about that."

The opportunity was there. It was clear as day and he could take it, so easily. All he had to do was suggest that Kasai, who had in fact attacked Nogimura before Kaito had entered the room, was the Kaitou KID, and the scrutiny on _him_ would ease. But Kasai had been unconscious in Shinichi's room and had been carried out along with him. They'd know she had not been wearing a disguise, so he would be suggesting that Kasai Tomohiro was KID's true identity. It would never hold up, of course, but it would cause Kasai some trouble and he didn't want that. Not after what she'd done for Shinichi.

"…Okay, look," Kaito said, his head ducked just slightly and looking up at Megure, a little sheepish. "I don't know how or why, but when I came into the room and grabbed Nogimura he mistook me for KID. It kinda freaked him out so I sort of… went along with it. It was probably the only reason I was able to overpower him and knock him out." He straightened a little and shrugged. "Lucky."

Megure didn't say anything. He looked like he was caught somewhere between needing to be thorough and impartial for the sake of professionalism, and relieved that there was an acceptable alternative explanation that was not "Kaito is KID."

"I'm not sure what kind of proof I can offer you, Inspector," Kaito said, his tone somehow sympathetic. "But anything you need is fine. I'll be happy to cooperate. I'm just glad you and everybody in Division One are taking such good care of Shinichi." He gave Megure a little smile then, with just the right amount of vulnerability and dependence, gratitude and regret that their efforts should even be necessary, and it triggered Megure's sense of protectiveness.

"All right, Kuroba-kun," he said, straightening a little in his chair. "We'll get this sorted out; don't worry. The only evidence Nogimura offered anyway was that you had KID's unique card-shooting gun, but I'm told the only thing you had when security arrived was Nogimura's sidearm. He must have been panicking and confused. And since there are no security cameras inside the hospital rooms, we really can't prove anything."

"Wait, so… does that mean we can't prove Nogimura attacked Shinichi either?" Kaito asked.

"Don't worry. With the fingerprints we found in the room, and Kasai-san's and your testimonies, it should work out just fine. And if even one of the hunches Kudou-kun told us about is right, he'll be charged with a lot more than just that."

"His hunches are usually right," Kaito said, smiling.

"I know. The kid's a brilliant detective, no doubt about it. Experienced, intelligent, observant, self-motivated… With some training he could be the pride of any police force. He'll have more offers than he'll know what to do with as soon as he's old enough," Megure sighed, not sounding all that happy about it.

"I wouldn't worry too much, Inspector," Kaito told him. "I have a feeling Shinichi already knows where he wants to end up."

.

"I stopped at a bookstore," Kaito announced as he walked into Shinichi's room that night. He tossed a book onto his bed and Shinichi picked it up, glancing over the cover. It was the latest Shinmei Kaori novel.

"I did ask if you could bring my _text_ books," he pointed out, a little smirk forming as his eyes followed Kaito's familiar path around the bed. "Is this your subtle way of refusing to acknowledge that?"

"I'm not feeling particularly subtle today," Kaito said, dropping into his chair. "I'm refusing to enable you as a stubborn workaholic."

"Heh, good to know." Shinichi flipped the book open, purposefully ignoring the summary on the back cover, and Kaito slouched down in his seat, one foot up against the metal support rail along the bottom of the starchy mattress.

"…What's wrong?" Shinichi asked after a few quiet moments, not looking up from the book. "You're okay with Megure-keibu now, right?"

"Yeah," Kaito answered. "He said you told him about why you dropped off the map for two and a half years but I assume you… didn't tell him the _whole_ truth of it," he added with a smirk.

"Of course not. But you were right; I couldn't keep my involvement with the Organization hidden anymore."

"And?" he prompted quietly. "Are we ready for the next steps?"

"Ready or not, right?" Shinichi replied with a quiet laugh.

"…Of course not, Shinichi," Kaito said, watching him carefully. "If you think we should wait–"

"Kaito."

Kaito stopped, staring up at Shinichi from where he was slouched in the chair.

"It's time."

There was a few seconds' pause, then a grin broke over Kaito's face. "Fair enough," he said, hopping to his feet. "Scoot over."

Shinichi didn't move. "The nurse didn't like it very much the last time you tried this."

"He can get over it," Kaito said, toeing off his shoes and inserting himself onto the narrow bed beside Shinichi.

"They're going to stop letting you in here," Shinichi tried as a final effort.

"They can try~!"

Shinichi just rolled his eyes and opened the book again, quickly skipping past the chapter index by habit, and tried not to smile as he felt Kaito settling in beside him to read along.


	34. Chapter 34

**Case 34 – Counterstrike: Part One**

.

" _You're lucky, Snake. It looks like Kudou Shinichi survived."_

"… _How is that lucky?"_

" _We need him alive."_

" _Why the hell–?"_

" _He's an important subject in an experiment for the organization. Some… interesting things have come to light. We need. Him. Alive."_

" _Well how the hell was I supposed to know? You didn't even tell Cognac."_

" _You know now. So hands off."_

" _Fuck off, Gin. If you're going to experiment on him, hurry up. I've got my orders. If he gets in my way at another heist again–"_

" _Snake, this is your last warning. Take care of the thief and stay away from Kudou Shinichi. He belongs to the organization now."_

.

"Of course I've thought of that. What if Pandora isn't real? If no one ever found it then they'd never stop looking. Never stop killing. We're done waiting around for something that might never happen."

"So which makes more sense, do you think? We can make them stop looking for it, or we could make them think they _have_ it and use it to trace them back to their boss."

"I'm not sure yet."

Shinichi scrolled through the data in front of him again. He was sitting up in his own bed against a pile of pillows, the tip of a pen in his mouth and a laptop on his lap with several windows open – analyses that he and Kaito had done as they planned and brainstormed behind closed doors and drawn curtains.

Kaito was sitting cross-legged on the floor beside the bed, his own laptop open in front of him, and a mess of blueprints, drafting tools, illustrations, and chemistry and magic books all spread before him across the entire room. It was a strangely intimate thing. Shinichi had never seen so much of Kaito's KID supplies at use like this, let alone been so deeply involved in the planning of a heist.

"What about this one?" Kaito asked, sending Shinichi another email. Shinichi opened it and glanced over the photo of a pale blue, faceted oval diamond. He made a discontented sort of hum.

"Do you really think Pandora would be cut like this? I mean, when you think about it, is that something someone who had Pandora would do?"

"But would they know?" Kaito countered. "I never assumed anyone who had Pandora would be aware of it. Normal people don't go around holding their jewels up to the moon, and the legend isn't totally pervasive like some. I don't think it's unreasonable to think it had been cut somewhere along the line. Plus, it will make our ownership cover story easier. Should make the special effects piece a little easier too." He tilted his head back and gave Shinichi a childish grin. "And besides, it's how I always pictured it, y'know? It'll help me play my part."

Shinichi rolled his eyes with a slight smile. "In that case, go with this one. You seem more confident with it than the others."

"Mm," Kaito agreed with a nod. "I'll start on the specs. Could you take over the cover story?"

"Sure."

They fell once again into comfortable silence, and for weeks their planning sessions became their routine, the Fake Pandora plan occupying as much of their time and thoughts as they could afford.

.

"…I'm pretty sure Sonoko is still going to be our best bet."

Kaito made an unhappy sound, flicking on his turn signal with a little more force than necessary.

"I know you don't want her involved, but–"

"I believe you," Kaito sighed. "If there was a better way, you'd find it. It's fine. We'll make it work."

They were both silent for a while as they followed the sluggish traffic through the streets toward Kaito's house.

"…We can't use it to track them," they both said at the same time.

"There would be no point," Shinichi went on.

"It could only lead us to a small group of them," Kaito agreed. "Even if we were able to find and take down the top boss, there are enough of these people across the world that somebody else would just take over."

"And if we use this plan now, for just that small strike, they'll never trust something like it again. We'll lose any opportunity to make them believe Pandora has been destroyed. They really will keep looking for it until the real thing is found."

"Which could be _never_." Kaito turned down a side street and pulled the car up behind his house. "Even if the damn thing _does_ exist," he muttered.

"It's decided then. We convince them you've got the real thing, then destroy it."

Kaito gave a slight nod and, with an unnecessary flicker of eyes, ended the conversation for the moment as they got out of the car. He hurried ahead to open the door and deactivate the traps as Shinichi followed more slowly behind. It had only been recently that the doctors had cleared him from the restriction of bed rest, and his body wasn't used to moving around much anymore. Any increase in his heart rate still sent a throbbing ache through his chest but he didn't care, eager to move on to the next stage of his recovery.

"Witnesses," Shinichi breathed out, dropping onto the couch as Kaito finished resetting his traps. "That's the most important piece of this now. Someone to provide testimony that the jewel glows red in the moonlight and that _that_ specific jewel was destroyed."

"It'll be tricky," Kaito admitted. "Do you want anything to drink?"

Shinichi shook his head. "No, I'm okay."

Kaito slipped onto the couch close beside him. "We can't let them see the pieces," he went on. "I can make it look real, but once it's broken open…"

"And even worse, they know your abilities as a magician. There has to be no doubt at all. No one thinking that you switched it out with a… well, a fake, before it was destroyed."

"Snake might be a good candidate then," Kaito said, stretching his legs out in front of him and tucking his hands behind his head. "He's the most familiar with both the legends and my tricks. They'll be more inclined to believe it if he's the one who says it's gone."

Shinichi sat up a little to look over at Kaito. "…What if he doesn't tell them?" Kaito's glance was scrutinizing. "It would mean he lost the jewel," Shinichi clarified. "That he screwed up."

"Mm. So, multiple witnesses with less at stake then," Kaito said, unfazed.

"I'm not sure we'll get to pick and choose, you know," Shinichi laughed.

Kaito smirked but shook his head. "We need to do this in a space where we can control who comes and goes – to protect the people who aren't involved as much as to play the Organization to our plans."

"…Like how Jirokichi blocked off that section of the city for his last challenge? We don't have the authority _or_ the manpower for that."

"Well, you know… the other option if we can't control the _people_ is to control the space." Shinichi breathed out a laugh at the sharp grin that followed. "How many ships do the Suzukis own?"

.

"Shinichi? Shinichi, come to bed."

Shinichi's eyes opened and he sat up slowly, Kaito's tablet sliding into his lap. He'd fallen asleep on the couch researching Pandora legends again while Kaito worked to create the replica gem in the secrecy of the KID room. He set the tablet aside and looked up at Kaito, rubbing at his eye a little.

"Mm… You're done for the night?" he asked sleepily.

"Yeah, for tonight," Kaito said. He took Shinichi's hand and helped him to his feet, leading the way back upstairs to his room. "You don't have to wait down there you know," he murmured as they went.

"But the KID room–"

"Shinichi, you already know it's here. You even know what floor the entrance is on." He swung the bedroom door shut behind them. "I have no doubt that if you put your mind to it you'd be able to find it regardless. I'd rather have you here waiting for me. Okay?"

"…Yeah, okay," Shinichi conceded and Kaito smirked. If he hadn't been half asleep he probably would have put up more of a fight, but Kaito took victories when they came.

"So how's it coming along?" Shinichi asked, settling into the bed while Kaito was getting changed.

"The easy parts are all done," Kaito answered. "I'm having a little trouble with some of the… effects though. But I'll work it out. The hardest part will probably be getting my hands on the right materials." He slid into bed next to Shinichi and pulled him close, resting a hand over his chest – over the wound. "How was today?" he asked.

"Not bad. It feels a little like the recovery from the antidote."

Kaito frowned, remembering how Shinichi had looked then – gaunt and exhausted and weak.

"More frustrating though…" Shinichi muttered.

"We've got time," Kaito reminded him. "No sense rushing it when the rest of the plan isn't together yet."

"I know." He smiled at Kaito, reassuring. "We'll get there."

.

Shinichi started slightly, almost dropping his coffee when Kaito strode into the kitchen a week later and threw a notebook down on the table with a sharp _slap._ He leaned forward and spun it around so that the writing was facing Shinichi. It was a list of names.

"I want a plan for everyone," he said firmly. "We need to decide how we're going to handle the people around us who aren't in on it. It's gonna get dangerous; I don't want anything overlooked."

"Mm," Shinichi agreed with a slight nod. He glanced over the names and sipped at his coffee. "Are you always this thorough?"

"I don't always have the luxury of this much time," Kaito said, heading for the fridge and rummaging around in it. "Speaking of, though – it's been a while since I had a heist. I need to get back out there or they might get suspicious. I already picked out a target." He nudged the door shut and set his armful of items on the counter, then crouched to extract a pan from one of the lower cabinets.

"…I won't be able to go," Shinichi said, his voice carefully neutral.

"Don't worry. It'll be in Ekoda, and I've got Jii in on it. The task force will be in full swing, and I'm sure Hakuba will turn up. There's nothing to worry about."

"Wait, you've already planned it? At the same time as all this other stuff?" His eyes moved to the notebook on the table again before moving back to Kaito. "I didn't even know…" Shinichi trailed off. Kaito had added a few mixing bowls and an electric hand-mixer to his collection on the counter, and Shinichi abruptly realized that these things weren't really adding up to "breakfast." More like some kind of insane chocolate cake.

"What kind of thief would I be if I let a detective know what I was up to all the time?" Kaito laughed, oblivious to Shinichi's now suspicious gaze on his back as he continued to clatter around the little kitchen in a somewhat haphazard and unfocused flurry. He passed by Shinichi's chair and paused for a moment to lean over him and run a gentle hand through his hair. "Even a live-in one. Hm?" he murmured.

"Don't talk about me like I'm some kind of pet," Shinichi muttered back, swatting his hand away. Kaito danced out of his reach before he could.

"Of course not!" he said cheerfully. "You're much cuter, much more important, and get into way more trouble than any pet ever could, my adorable little Tantei-kun~"

 _That's it,_ Shinichi thought. He pushed his chair back and got to his feet, but the motion had been a little too quick. He stopped abruptly, his hands tense on the edge of the table, and Kaito was there in a second.

"Get off me," Shinichi insisted, but there was no bite to the words. Kaito edged back a little anyway.

"I'm sorry," he said with a lopsided smile, but his eyes were still intent on Shinichi.

"No, you're not. You're getting really worried about this plan again and the danger we're gonna be provoking. You know that even with the ship, there are elements we haven't pinned down and you're trying to distract yourself from that because you don't want to stress _me_ out over all this while I'm still–" He cut off, one hand clenching into a fist as he leaned heavily on the table.

"…And you're getting frustrated with your recovery again. Did you know you spout deductions more quickly when that happens?"

Shinichi didn't answer and Kaito moved close again, turning him by his shoulders and pulling Shinichi's arms around himself. He waited then, meeting his eyes but making no further move, and Shinichi felt the uncomfortable sting of being patronized. But he needed the control Kaito was offering him. His fingers twisted tight into the back of Kaito's shirt and gripped roughly at the back of his neck as he kissed him, aware in some fogged corner of his mind that Kaito was the one supporting them both even as Shinichi pushed him back against the wall.

Shinichi only broke away when Kaito let out a soft, needy whine. They both knew perfectly well they couldn't go any further. Even now, Shinichi's chest felt alarmingly tight as his heart thudded painfully.

"You are not even a little subtle," Shinichi breathed against Kaito's shoulder, clinging to him as his breath hitched uncomfortably. "You can't fix… every little thing…"

"But it _did_ make you feel better," Kaito pointed out, his voice somewhat lower now and his hands moving in soothing circles across Shinichi's back. "You should learn to be a little less proud and let people help you when they can. Your heart's been through a lot over the last three years – every time you switched between you and Conan, and now that bullet–"

"I know all that," Shinichi murmured, still clinging to Kaito.

The bullet had nicked his heart. It was just a miracle of timing that Kaito was there in practically the same moment to put pressure on the wound, and that the ambulance had arrived in mere minutes. They'd had enough blood at the hospital to keep him alive until Ran showed up as well to donate more and get him through the surgery. He'd survived, but if he wasn't careful about building his strength back up slowly, the worn and damaged muscle could well give out before it had the chance to fully heal.

That was what Haibara had told him anyway, and he was inclined to believe her. She had warned him after his return that his body had suffered trauma through every cell, and would likely sustain lasting effects that could weaken his immune system or slow recovery time. He hadn't thought much of it though – he had his body back and as far, as he was concerned, everything else was just technicalities. After his run-in with Merlot, he was convinced that Haibara was just being paranoid – his ribs had healed well after all, even if the concussion had lingered. But the doctors had been concerned this time about how weak he'd seemed after surgery. Shinichi let out a frustrated groan and buried his face against Kaito's shoulder.

"…I wanna take a look at that list," he murmured eventually through Kaito's shirt. "I wanna work on it while you're at your heist."

"Sounds good," Kaito agreed with a soft smile, and he pressed a kiss into Shinichi's hair.

.

Shinichi was sitting up in bed, staring down at Kaito's notebook with his legs crossed and a pen in his mouth, going over his notes one last time while Kaito put his KID gear away. He didn't so much as flinch when Kaito suddenly dropped out of the ceiling of his closet, a hiss of hydraulics marking the seamless sealing of the passage to the KID room. He strolled over to the bed and threw himself across it dramatically, resting the back of his hand against his forehead. Shinichi just barely managed to snatch the notebook out of the way in time.

"That you should have missed such a glorious heist… I'm sorry, Tantei-kun. I promise I'll make the next one even better so you can enjoy it too."

"Which 'next one' would that be?" Shinichi asked, smirking around his pen.

"Hm. We'll see," Kaito said with a shrug. "I think my favorite part was the trampoline–"

"Kaito, focus. You made me promise I would have all the 'ally plans' done by the time you got home. Well, I did 'em, so you're gonna listen."

Kaito just grinned up at him and plucked the notebook from his hands, holding it above his own face. "Okay then, let's start with Sonoko and Makoto-kun."

Shinichi nodded and took the pen from his mouth, leaning back against the pillows. "For Makoto-kun, we're going to arrange for him to be abroad. He travels so much as it is; it shouldn't be hard to have him out of the country during the heist. All we really have to do is drop some information about a good challenger."

"But that will leave Sonoko more exposed. I kind of assumed you'd have him on protection duty. Against KID, you know?"

"Hey, you asked me to come up with the plan. If you wanted it done your way, you should have done it yourself."

Kaito glanced over to see Shinichi watching him with clear amusement. "Okay, okay." He handed the notebook back. "Go on then."

"I decided it would be best to limit the number of wildcards as much as possible. As far as protection for Sonoko goes, it's going to be trained, armed police officers, but more than that, her protection hinges on the plan to keep everybody off the boat. There's not much to worry about once the gem is out in the middle of Tokyo Bay, away from everybody."

"I guess," Kaito agreed. "What about Ran and Kosuke-kun?"

"I'm pretty sure Ran wouldn't bring Kosuke-kun along with her if Makoto-kun is off traveling. Sonoko will be sulking and Ran won't want to provoke her by bringing her boyfriend. She'll likely stick close to Sonoko, so it's essentially the same plan. Leave them to the police."

"Okay so… you keep mentioning the police. Have you decided what we're doing with them? Are we letting any of them on the ship?"

"No," Shinichi answered firmly and Kaito sat up, curious. "There are too many variables. For as much as they might be useful, we won't be able to tell them the whole story or the whole plan, so we'd just be endangering them."

Kaito gave a slow nod. "Same for Mouri-jii?"

"Heh, if it even comes up. He's not that into heists, but if Sonoko's dad asks him to come, we'll just keep him off the boat like the others."

"Hmm?" Kaito said, his voice sliding up with suspicion. "It's sounding to me like your entire plan is just 'keep everyone off the boat'. That much was obvious from the start – what have you been working on all night?" he teased.

"Well you keep asking about the difficult ones. Let's face it; clearing out everyone we know isn't something we can do without drawing a lot of attention. If you want secrets _and_ safety, it's a balancing act."

Kaito grinned. "Just testing your resolve, Tantei-kun. If you don't have absolute confidence in your plan, it's not good enough.

"Go on then. What about Hattori?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Hattori and Kazuha are _not_ going to be an issue. Hattori's never come out here for a heist before. He won't have any reason to think this one is significant."

Kaito nodded. "Hakuba, then," he said and Shinichi let out a sigh.

"You're not gonna like it…"

.

"Geez, you're brutal Aoko!" Kaito staggered to the side slightly, pulling Aoko with him, his arm linked with hers. Aoko stumbled in that direction, overcompensated, and veered the opposite way, nearly tipping over.

"Don't– whoa! Don't be such a baby; you're supposed to ride it like that!" she insisted.

Kaito tried to roll his eyes, but the park was still spinning. He pitched sideways abruptly and fell onto a bench, dragging Aoko down with him. The Spinning Saucer ride they'd just barely made it out of tilted in their field of vision. It took a good few minutes of sitting still (and laughing somewhat giddily) for everything to finally stabilize.

"Hey, Kaito," Aoko said eventually, leaning back against the bench. "What was the special occasion you said you wanted to celebrate today?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Your birthday!" He grinned at her but Aoko's expression had gone suddenly sour.

"Kaito… My birthday's not 'til September. If you forgot–"

"I know that," Kaito said, adopting a haughty look and waving her words away, one arm slung lazily over the back of the bench under the blazing sun. "But you won't be available for your actual birthday, so I wanted to do something now."

"Huh? Not available?" She blinked at him and noticed that he had deflated somewhat, his eyes edging away from hers in a display of hesitance. "…Oh, I get it!"Aoko declared slowly. "Is my dad planning something? Or Saguru-kun?"

Kaito cringed at the excitement behind her second guess. "Hey, it's not–"

But Aoko wasn't listening. "It's no use now, Kaito! You let the cat out of the bag! Oh! I know!" she said, hopping to her feet. "Since today is for my birthday, I'm gonna go get us some ice cream. On you, okay?" she added, leaning forward with a grin.

Kaito managed a successful eye roll this time and pulled out his wallet, tossing it to her. "Yeah, do what you want," he said, and Aoko ran off to the food stand nearby. When she was gone, he pulled out the thin blue envelope he'd brought with him, staring down at it with a small smile.

 _I need her safe. I can't do this with her here._ He let out a sigh. _Shinichi knows that. That's why he came up with this plan. It's bad enough that Nakamori-keibu will be right in the thick of it. I can't pull Aoko and Hakuba into it too… I just wish I didn't have to do it like_ this _._

He was eyeing the envelope like it might secretly be poisonous by the time Aoko returned, offering him a double scoop cone of chocolate and pistachio ice cream. "What's that?" she asked, dropping back onto the bench beside him.

 _No turning back now,_ Kaito thought, and he constructed a somewhat abashed expression as he looked away and held the envelope out to Aoko. "Here," he said shortly. "It's for you."

Aoko took it and flicked the unsealed flap open with a thumb as she swiped up the rainbow sprinkles sliding down the melting edges of her birthday cake ice cream. She slid the sheet of paper out and unfolded it, her eyes going from wide to huge as she processed the implications of the seat numbers and arrival times and destinations printed there. "K-Kaito–" she nearly choked.

Kaito caught her cone before it could fall and held it out to her impatiently but she didn't take it. She was still staring at the printout in her hand. "Kaito," she tried again after a moment. "You– This is a flight to London. This is _two_ roundtrip flights to London. This is you offering me a trip to London with my boyfriend _who you hate_."

"Hate is… relative," Kaito muttered. "If you don't take this ice cream, it's gonna melt."

Aoko took it and managed to eat a little more of it without ever taking her eyes from the paper. "…I can't accept this," she eventually said. "This is way too much, Kaito. What were you thinking?"

"It's not–"

"I treated you to a movie and baked you a cake for your birthday. This is too much."

"It's not just for your birthday," Kaito pressed. "It's… to make up for being such a jerk about you and… _Hakuba_." It looked very much like an effort to not add "that bastard" onto the end, but he managed. "And don't you _dare_ tell him I did this either. That's my one condition. Just tell him you won the trip in a contest or something. I'll never forgive you if you breathe a word of this to anyone. Even Shinichi, all right?"

"Aw, Kaito, you don't have to be embarrassed," Aoko crooned, poking his cheek with the tip of her finger. "This is really sweet. Thank you."

Kaito glanced over at her. Her cheeks were flushed over a bright grin and he hoped it was from the heat and excitement and not from thoughts of flying off to a foreign country alone with Hakuba.

"Please, _please_ don't make me regret this," he groaned.

.

Agasa seemed to have figured out that Shinichi was dead tired of people asking him how he was feeling, because he didn't try. Or maybe he just didn't feel the need since Shinichi was actually standing upright and dribbling a soccer ball in his living room. It was probably that fact that had him smiling in relief even as Shinichi explained the details of their plan to confront the Organization.

"So what do you think, Professor? Did we miss anything?" he asked when he'd finished.

Agasa laughed. "I doubt there's anything I could come up with that you and Kaito-kun haven't thought of," he said.

Shinichi shook his head. "Everybody sees things from different angles. It's good to get as many perspectives as possible, you know?" He kicked the ball up behind him with his heel and caught it on his head, balancing it there for a moment before letting it drop forward and catching it with a series of short bounces on the side of his foot. Each motion was gratifying in its familiarity. "So then… Haibara." He let the ball hit the floor and brought his foot down on top of it to keep it still. "What do _you_ think about it?"

"Huh?" Agasa looked around. Haibara wasn't there, but the door to the basement lab was opening, and she stepped out, already rolling her eyes.

"Don't act like you knew I was there. There's no way you saw or heard me."

"No," Shinichi replied, grinning. "But I stopped hearing sounds of movement in the basement at a time that coincided with when you usually come up for dinner, but you didn't come out and it stayed quiet, so I figured you were listening."

"Hmph," Haibara said lightly, making her way into the kitchen area and opening the fridge. "Good to see your brain at least is still in good shape."

"Hey, my recovery's been going great," Shinichi objected with just a hint of a pout. _Now, anyway…_

"Yes, I know. You and the thief take walks every day now. It's adorable." Her expression remained flat as ever as she set out a head of lettuce, a cucumber, a few carrots, and a small container of tomatoes, and set to work cleaning and slicing them. Agasa let out a mournful sigh.

"Why do you even know that?" Shinichi asked, flicking the soccer ball up into his hands in one sharp move.

"…Kuroba-kun told me," she said, not looking up from the vegetables. "Obviously–"

"You've been checking up on me!"

Agasa turned a little from where he was resignedly removing a few wide, shallow salad bowls from a cabinet. "Shinichi…" he chided gently.

"Oh, no. No, it's fine," Shinichi drawled with a grin. "I just didn't know you cared, Haibara."

"If you're going to be a pain in the ass–" Haibara warned, rounding on him, knife in hand.

"Hey, hold on," Shinichi laughed, holding up his free hand with the soccer ball tucked in the crook of his other elbow. "I meant it, Haibara – I want to know what you think of the plan. You heard it all, right?"

She glared at him for a few seconds, clearly deciding whether or not she would allow the distraction, but when she turned back to the vegetables Shinichi knew he was safe.

"What do you want me to say, Kudou-kun?" she asked, making quick work of the cucumber and moving on to the carrots. "That I think it's a great plan and you'll succeed with no problems? This is the Organization we're talking about. You're probably going to get killed."

"Gee thanks," Shinichi muttered. "Look, I know you're probably thinking–"

"–that you shouldn't be blatantly _provoking_ a vast and dangerous criminal organization–"

"–and putting _you_ in danger by extension–"

"–because I'm a traitor of the Organization in hiding–"

"A turncoat."

Haibara froze and Shinichi and Agasa turned toward the doorway. Kaito had slipped in, unnoticed.

"What did you say?" Haibara demanded, fist clenching around the knife again.

"That's what Merlot said," Kaito answered with a shrug. "That not even jail was safe for turncoats from the Organization. That Gin would see to it that they were killed."

"She's right," Haibara said stiffly.

"You should get out of the country." The words were light and conversational, but not quite the easygoing suggestion they might have been. There was too much insistence under them for that. "You can go to America. Meet up with Shinichi's parents. Yusaku-san has some contacts; they should be able to keep you safe if anything goes wrong."

Haibara glanced toward Shinichi but Shinichi wasn't saying anything. "…Is that part of your _plan_?" She smacked the knife onto the counter with a sharp _clack_. "How exactly do you expect me to get to _America_? Haibara Ai doesn't exactly have a passport. I don't exist."

"I can take care of that," Kaito answered instantly. "And anything else you need. …You just have to ask."

Haibara looked around the room, from Shinichi to Agasa and back to Kaito again. They were all watching her, waiting for her answer. "You've gotta be joking," she scoffed, and her voice had gone a little weak, her fist trembling at her side. "What is wrong with all of you? Kudou-kun's been insane from the start and I guess that goes for the thief, too, but Professor…" She turned sharp eyes to Agasa. "Why are you going along with this? Why haven't you said anything against it? You _know_ what they're capable of."

"He knows what _we're_ capable of." Kaito's voice cut through, firm and confident. "Haibara-san," he said slowly, meeting her eyes. "You need to start trusting me."

"Why should I do that?" she laughed, and he pretended he didn't hear the hint of hysterics underneath it.

"Because you don't have a choice anymore. And you know it."

"…Hey, Kaito. Ease up," Shinichi said quietly.

"Don't coddle me, Kudou-kun," Haibara snapped. "He's right. I _don't_ have a choice anymore. I don't have any control over what the two of you do, and you do as you like regardless of the people it affects. You think your 'plans' make up for that, but you're wrong. Don't pretend you're the heroes here. You're manipulating _everyone_ for your own purposes."

"We're trying to take down a major crime syndicate!" Shinichi countered but Haibara snapped back, "Who asked you to? It's not your damn _job_. I swear you're still the arrogant high schooler playing deduction games and getting in over your head. This is a job for the police. Why can't you understand that?"

"It's not that simple – or did you forget that you and Kaito are both criminals. I was turned into a six-year-old. You're twenty-one; you look like you're ten. Kaito's father was killed over a magic gem that might not even exist. I think we're a little past asking the police to handle this. But _somebody's_ got to."

Haibara didn't say anything but everyone could feel the retort she wanted to make hanging in the air. _Why? Why not leave it alone? Let it be someone else's problem. Stay safe, knowing that people are being killed._

"I'm done," Haibara said, turning her back on all of them to busy herself with the vegetables again. "I'm not going to argue with fools. Go home; you need rest."

She didn't say anything more and Agasa moved to Shinichi's side, putting a hand on his shoulder to guide him gently toward the door. "I think it's probably best that we let her cool off," he murmured.

"Yeah," Kaito agreed, moving with them out onto the front walk. His hand moved subtly to take Shinichi's. "Let's stay at your house tonight."

"Hm? Yeah, sure. Good night, Professor."

"We'll get in touch about the plan," Kaito added, and he said it so lightly that they might have been talking about going to lunch some afternoon. Shinichi breathed out a quiet laugh.

"Goodnight," Agasa said, and he headed back inside.

.

"It'll just be for a little while," Shinichi was saying into the phone. "They just need someplace to stay."

"Of course; it's no trouble at all, Shinichi," Yusaku replied. "It's been a while since I've had a writing session with Hiroshi-kun. We always come up with interesting things together."

"I'm sure," Shinichi said with flat amusement. "Well then–"

"Just a second, Shinichi," Yusaku said, cutting off Shinichi's eagerness to end the call. "Aren't you going to tell me what this is all about?"

Shinichi went still and silent for a few moments. "…Agasa-hakase already told you. Didn't he," he concluded, and Kaito glanced up from his tablet.

"He said Haibara-san was somewhat against it, so he wasn't sure if they would be coming."

"And by 'against it'…"

"I do mean _all_ of it," Yusaku said lightly.

Shinichi let out a sigh. _He knows the whole of it, then, I'm sure. I know Agasa-hakase wouldn't have said anything about Kaito being involved, but Tou-san–_

"Watch out for each other, Shinichi."

"Huh?"

"Toichi… would never let me rest if I knowingly let you boys go into danger and something happened to the two of you."

 _Oh yeah,_ Shinichi thought with an exasperated, resigned sigh. _He definitely knows._ "What are you talking about, Tou-san? This is police business; Kaito's got nothing to do with it." Kaito went back to his tablet, his cheek smushed against the heel of his hand, distorting the discontented frown.

"By that logic, neither do you," Yusaku reminded him, and Shinichi could clearly hear the smug smirk. "Anyway, I should get going. Remember what I said, Shinichi. I expect to hear from you again soon."

The line went dead and Shinichi clicked off his phone screen in irritation. He dropped onto the couch beside Kaito with a sigh and leaned against his shoulder. "…How _did_ you talk Haibara around, anyway?" he asked.

Kaito leaned back and snuck an arm around Shinichi's waist. "I am _honestly_ not sure," he admitted, but Shinichi just made a quiet humming sound, not surprised in the least. "I'd never had any one-on-one time with her – I thought I'd be able to figure out why she still doesn't trust me and work from there, but we spent most of the time just sitting in silence, and then she tells me she'll be going to America and Agasa-hakase will be going with her and that she'll come after me if you turn up dead."

"Heh. Yeah, that sounds about right."

"The only problem now is what we're gonna do about the kids…"

"Yeah," Shinichi sighed. "I was counting on the professor to keep them out of trouble during all this, but it sounds like Haibara won't leave him behind, and we can't send the kids to America with them because–"

"They'd insist on going to see Conan," Kaito finished with something of a hopeless groan. "Seriously, what a mess."

"There's not really anyone left we can count on for this… You updated Jii-san and Chikage-san on their parts, right?"

"Yeah, that's all set, no problem." He looked like he was about to say more but the words didn't quite make it out. Shinichi didn't say anything either, recognizing that Kaito was deliberating over something as he tapped his finger against the tablet in a quick beat before vanishing it without so much as a puff of smoke, his eyes all the while distant with thought. "…Shinichi," he eventually said. "I'll take care of the kids."

"Huh?"

"The heist will be pretty late at night anyway. I'll knock them out with sleep gas before then and leave them in their beds. I'll leave a timed gas release in their rooms too, I think. To make sure they sleep the whole night. That should be fine."

Shinichi stared over at Kaito, but Kaito's eyes were fixed on the coffee table in front of them. He leaned forward and pushed some papers aside, extracting the notebook he'd given to Shinichi earlier with the names of everyone they'd wanted to account for and sat back, staring at the writing.

"…So this is Kaitou KID at his most serious, huh?" Shinichi murmured. "You'd really go that far?"

"To protect everyone?" Kaito glanced over at him and met his eyes. "Of course I would."

"…Yeah, all right. I'm fine with it," Shinichi sighed. "The last thing I want is for those three to wander into this kind of trouble, and you _know_ that they would."

"So then, I think that's everybody–" Kaito stopped short, still looking at the notebook. "Shinichi…" he said slowly. "What the hell is _my_ name doing on this list?"

"Oh, that," Shinichi said. "Yeah, we need to talk about that. I want to make sure people know Kuroba Kaito is at this heist."

Kaito set the notebook back on the table. "Clarify," he said firmly.

"What are the odds that you'll get hurt during this heist?" Shinichi asked, perfectly conversational.

"…Define 'hurt,'" Kaito requested, his tone shifting from guarded to interested.

"Enough that you'll need medical attention."

He was silent for a few seconds, then answered with calm confidence, "More likely than not."

Shinichi just nodded. "I want it established that you were there. If something happens, we can make up some kind of story to fit – an accident or something, depending. Maybe even a hit if we have to; shouldn't be hard with the Organization involved and you being my boyfriend. People would believe that pretty easily. And then we won't have to worry about secret identities. We can get you help. Of course, this is all assuming no one _sees_ KID get hurt, but the odds are decent since it'll just be you, me, and Jii-san on the ship."

Kaito agreed with a short nod. "It wouldn't be weird for me to be there," he reasoned. "I'll make sure I'm seen by plenty of people before it all starts."

"Thank you," Shinichi sighed, and the words were filled with relief. Kaito breathed out a laugh.

"Worried about me, Shinichi?" he murmured, turning to him and trailing gentle fingers through Shinichi's bangs and down the side of his face.

"I am _now_ ," Shinichi said with a smirk. "You're getting dangerously close to 'kidnapper' status with this new plan and I don't want you dragging me into it."

"Hm? Nobody dragged you into _anything_ , Tantei-kun. I think you just like trouble."

Shinichi reached up and slid his fingers up the back of Kaito's neck and into his hair, pulling him into a gentle kiss. "Maybe I love it," he murmured.

Kaito laughed at the embarrassed blush that followed, and whispered in his ear with a grin, "I love you, too."

.

"Is all of this really necessary?" Shinichi asked. He was driving Jii's car with a fake license plate, Kaito in the passenger seat beside him giving him directions to some secluded place in the mountains. At Kaito's insistence, he was wearing Conan's tracking glasses and a newsboy cap over a short black wig that hid the distinctive (and determined) cowlicks that not even Kaito had been able to tame. Kaito himself was wearing a sundress and a long, straight black wig with colored contacts muting his eyes to a dark brown.

"It is absolutely necessary," he answered, not bothering to disguise his voice as long as they were in the car. His hand moved over the delicate purse at his side. "I need a test run, but if anybody sees, the entire plan is shot. Take this side road on the left up here. We should make it there right after sunset."

"And where exactly are we going?" Shinichi asked, taking the turn carefully as the road became somewhat rough.

"Nowhere at all," Kaito answered.

.

True to his word, Kaito guided Shinichi off to the side of the road in a lightly wooded area and they got out and walked a good ways up until they were on a rocky cliff overlooking the patchy trees and foliage. Without Kaito's hand clutched firmly in his, Shinichi doubted he would have been able to make it so far with no path in the poor evening light. There wouldn't be anyone around here, that much was certain.

They sat down on the rocky ground and Kaito carefully shifted the purse around onto his lap as he waited for Shinichi to catch his breath.

"The moon's already high enough," Shinichi whispered after a few quiet minutes, somehow not wanting to raise his voice. "Come on, I wanna see this thing already."

He felt more than heard Kaito take a deep breath beside him, and he opened the purse, reaching in for the pale blue gem that filled his palm as he carefully lifted it out of the bag.

"…Whoa," Shinichi said, staring.

Kaito smirked. "You haven't seen anything yet," he murmured with a female voice, and he moved his hand out of the shadows and into the moonlight, both of them holding their breath. Then a red glow like slow-burning embers gradually gathered within the gem, bringing it to life in Kaito's hand.

"That's incredible…" Shinichi breathed, and he just barely heard Kaito whisper beside him, slipping back to his own voice for just a moment, "I really did it." Shinichi smiled and took Kaito's free hand, squeezing it gently.

"How's it done?" he asked, keeping his voice hushed.

"Heh, you tell me." Kaito turned to him and offered the gem. Shinichi took it carefully and turned it over in his hands, examining it closely, but he had brought it down out of the moonlight and the red glow was already fading. "Hm…" he murmured. He raised it up again. Again the light gathered.

"A photometer," he answered eventually after a few more tests, minding the length of time in and out of the moonlight and the reaction of the gem. "I mean, it _must_ be but… I still don't understand _how_ –"

"A photometer, huh?" Kaito said, and Shinichi could instantly tell he'd regained his confidence, his disguised voice adopting a haughty tone. "Is that what you think?" He was suddenly holding the jewel again and Shinichi blinked down at his empty hands. "Then what if I do this?" He clicked on the light in Shinichi's watch and shone it down on the jewel. Shinichi was so busy trying to figure out exactly when Kaito had snatched the watch from his wrist that he didn't realize right away that no light was gathering within the gem.

"What–? But how–?"

"How?" Kaito said, blinking his false eyes innocently at him. "Pandora only glows in the moonlight, of course. You've been researching the legends; you should know that by now."

"You know what I mean!" Shinichi complained, elbowing him and stealing the watch back.

"Heh, don't be lazy, Shinji-san~" he teased. "I know you're smart enough to figure it out."

"Really? Then why can't I figure out why we still need fake names and disguises when we already made it out into the middle of nowhere?"

"Because you have absolutely no sense of fun," Kaito answered, glancing over the red glow under the moonlight one last time before tucking the gem back into his purse.

"Is that right?"

"That's right~!" Kaito leaned over and kissed the tip of Shinichi's nose.

"Kai–" Shinichi started, laughing, but Kaito stopped him with a finger on his lips.

"'Keiko,'" he provided cheerfully.

"I am _not_ calling you that."

"I guess you'll just have to stick to pet names then, sweetie~"

"You are enjoying this way too much," Shinichi laughed.

"I could be enjoying it more," he murmured, leaning in close.

Shinichi didn't need more of an invitation. He met Kaito's lips with his own, moving to hold him without thinking, but he was pulling back again all too soon.

"…Okay, this is weird," he said, one hand tangled in the long wig, and looking down at where Kaito's padded bra was pressed between their chests. Kaito's grin could only be described as cheeky.

"Hm?" he said, still maintaining the feminine voice. "You don't like it?" He flipped a lock of hair over his shoulder and batted his eyelashes at Shinichi.

"Knock it off!" Shinichi laughed. He took off his hat and fit it snugly onto Kaito's head then leaned in close again. "I like the real you better."

"Oh~?" Kaito said, and his tone was still teasing, but Shinichi was pleased to see a subtle blush across his face. "Pretty smooth line there, Tantei-kun. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to get me to go home with you."

"Of course not," Shinichi said. He pulled away from Kaito and got to his feet, brushing himself off and offering Kaito his hand. He took it and stood, smoothing his skirt and adjusting the strap of the purse on his shoulder. "We'll go to your place," Shinichi said and Kaito grinned.

.

They were in the car and back on the main road when Shinichi finally said, "I still haven't figured out how you did it."

"Hm? You mean the jewel?" Kaito asked, already having reverted back to his own voice. "That's a relief. There would be no point if it was that easy to see through."

"Come on, you've gotta tell me."

"All right, all right," he said, carefully pulling off the hat without skewing the wig. "There _is_ a photometer inside the jewel. When it registers no light, nothing happens, and in low quality solar light – light from the moon – it glows. Any of the wrong kind of light flips a kill switch and the glow stops."

"But I couldn't see the device at all…"

"Best guess," Kaito requested.

"…Two-way mirrors," Shinichi said and Kaito smiled.

"But?"

"But if the glow was coming from the same side of the mirror as the device, I'd be able to see the device when it lights up."

"You're not wrong. I did use a type of two-way mirror to allow light to reach the photometer without the photometer being seen. As for the glow, it's not a light being switched on. When the photometer registers the right level of light, it triggers a weak electrical charge that excites a chemical gas inside the jewel, causing it to glow."

"…It's layered," Shinichi said in realization, and Kaito nodded.

"There's an inner chamber that contains the device to generate the electrical charge, hooked up to the photometer, as well as a mechanism for shock absorption in case it gets dropped or thrown around. Between the inner chamber and the outer walls of the gem is mostly pockets of empty space. That's where the gas is. The tint of the outer walls, the facets, and especially the bracing walls connecting the inner chamber to the outer all keep it from looking too reflective to be real."

"The current still reaches the gas through the walls of the inner chamber because the entire chamber becomes electrified," Shinichi said, nodding a little. "…But how the hell did you get the gas _in_ there?"

"Hm? I'm not giving you this one, Tantei-kun. You can figure it out~"

They drove in silence for a short time, Kaito humming quietly as he watched the mountains slowly give way to civilization again. Then Shinichi finally said, "It was solid."

"Good," Kaito replied with a smirk. "Go on."

"It's sort of like dry ice," Shinichi explained. "You sealed the chemicals you needed into the gem as solid pellets. Then, with the gem sitting at room temperature, the pellets returned to their gaseous state inside."

"Too easy?" Kaito asked, still smiling.

"Heh, not when it's impossible to tell that the gem was even sealed it the first place."

"I _am_ a perfectionist," Kaito said proudly.

"Yeah?" Shinichi said as they finally slowed into city traffic. "It's all really clever, don't get me wrong, but I think there's one thing you overlooked."

"No you don't," Kaito said with a smile. "You know better than that. But it's something that's bothering you so go ahead and ask."

"Okay. Won't all the inner mechanisms be exposed when you blow it up?"

Kaito grinned, sharp and devious. "Trust me," he said. "The amount of force I've got planned? It's not gonna be an issue."

"But _any_ pieces–"

"Will be lost in the ocean. Shinichi, it's gonna be perfect. Just trust me."

Shinichi glanced over at him, both hands firm on the wheel. It always felt like Kaito was taking it all too lightly, but he did know that wasn't actually the case. And it went without saying that Shinichi would follow Kaito into fire and danger and impossible odds because he knew beyond doubt that he _could_ trust him.

"Yeah, yeah," Shinichi said, shaking his head a little. "…It really is incredible what you've managed to do though," he sighed. "And you put so much work into it. It's kind of a shame we're gonna destroy it."

"The art isn't the jewel," Kaito replied easily. "It's the deception. If we manage to fool them… that's the real prize."

"Heh, no arguments here," Shinichi laughed. "Now, let's get you home, _Keiko_."

He pulled up outside of an apartment building and blushed faintly when Kaito leaned over and kissed his cheek, taking the opportunity to whisper, "Leave the car in the underground parking of the movie theater. And don't forget your bag." He touched another quick kiss to his cheek and got out of the car, waving cheerfully as Shinichi pulled away. Then he went up to the currently empty apartment he'd been watching for this purpose to change out of his disguise and disappear.

It was sometime around the moment Shinichi was stuffing his wig and glasses into the messenger bag that had held his change of clothes in a bathroom stall at the movie theater that it occurred to him to wonder when exactly this had become normal. The moment he'd called Agasa that night in the warehouse? Or maybe it was the first time he'd set off a smoke screen to sneak out of class, or the first time he'd broken into a house to look for evidence… He laughed a little to himself as he left the bathroom with his disguise tucked away in the reversible bag. Maybe his and KID's lives had always been on a crash course with each other. Whatever the case, even now, he wouldn't change a thing.

.

Kaito's and Shinichi's daily walks had, with careful gradation, become daily races – short and slow at first but building until Shinichi was able to keep right at Kaito's heels for the whole of a long, hard run. They reached the pedestrian bridge over the river that had been their finishing line and collapsed in the shade beneath it, both of them out of breath.

"How do you feel?" Kaito asked when he could.

"Good," Shinichi answered breathlessly. "Really, really good. I think I'm getting there."

Kaito laughed, high and bright, the sound mingling with the lapping of the river and the morning birdsong. Shinichi closed his eyes and drank it in. "Getting there, huh?" Kaito sighed and Shinichi could hear the smile in his voice. "Shinichi, I wasn't holding back at all this time. I think you're faster than you were before all this!"

Shinichi sat up and glanced over at Kaito. He was sprawled on his back in the grass, smiling though his breath was still coming a little too quick and his face was flushed with the summer heat, and Shinichi was entirely unprepared for how much it reminded him of the way Kaito looked just after sex. He looked away quickly and stood, brushing bits of grass from his clothes for something to do. "I guess you'll need to watch it from now on then, won't you," he told him, but the thief only grinned.

Shinichi glanced at his watch then leaned over Kaito, offering his hand to help him up. "Come on, let's go. I need a shower before my appointment."

.

"Hey, what'd the doctor say?" Kaito asked when Shinichi finally make it back much later that night.

"Huh? Oh, right, the appointment," he said, pushing his hand through his hair and pacing into the bedroom, his eyes deliberately directed to an empty corner. Kaito watched him carefully from the bed, quietly silencing the reflexive worry that tried to rise within him.

"Right," he said. "Appointment first. Then you can tell me about that… what was it? Manicure murder?"

Shinichi laughed, relaxing somewhat. "Yeah. Anyway, clean bill of health, and we caught the murderer. She had put poison in her nail polish and–"

"Wait, wait!" Kaito insisted, holding up his hands. "So, _officially_ , you're good? Healthy? All back to normal?"

"Well yeah–"

"And no, like, long term effects? Anything we should watch out for?"

"No. He said I healed really well, even if it took a while."

"Shinichi, that's great!" He let out a loud, exasperated sigh. "Geez, you had me worried for nothing. Why aren't you more excited?"

Shinichi glanced at him with a wry smile. "Heh, sorry. I was thinking about something else. But hey, before that, how did your errand go?"

"No problems, but I did decide to get four to make things simpler. Just don't let the police see you with it and we'll avoid any unnecessary questions."

"Stashed in the KID room for now?"

"Ours are. I gave Kaa-san hers and Jii-chan's."

Shinichi nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed. "So what are you working on now?"

"The article to announce the gem," Kaito said, tipping the tablet in his hands so Shinichi could see the open file with the notes they'd compiled on the Pandora legends.

"We haven't even asked Sonoko yet," Shinichi pointed out, but Kaito just shrugged.

"I'm just playing around with it. Getting some ideas going. It'll need a name, you know."

"Hm…" Shinichi took the tablet from Kaito and stood, wandering absently to the desk as he stared down at the notes, his hand at his chin. "You're not tired, then?" he asked, still looking at the screen with his back to Kaito. "It's kind of late; that murder took a while."

"Not really," Kaito agreed. "But if you wanna sleep–"

He cut himself off when Shinichi clicked off the tablet screen, setting it on the desk and turning back to face him. The look he gave him brought Kaito crashing back to every heist they'd ever faced off at, every late night spent laughing, and every stolen kiss they'd shared all at once. Then Shinichi crossed the room in a few quick strides and pushed Kaito down on the mattress.

"Oh hell yes," Kaito breathed out, and then Shinichi was kissing him and Kaito reached up to drag him down on top of him. Impatient hands tripped clumsily over each other as they both rushed to shed as much clothing, both their own and their partner's, as quickly as possible. And for the first time in months, they forgot everything else but each other.

.

"I gotta tell you, Shinichi," Sonoko said, flicking a strand of hair back behind her ear and folding her arms over a table in one of her father's offices. "I have imagined so many scenarios that would make you ask to talk to me alone."

"I don't want to know," Shinichi said quickly but Sonoko just smiled, looking particularly devious.

"You _do_ know I'm the one Kaito goes to to talk about you, right?" she said, perfectly smug.

"Yes," was the grudging answer. Sonoko opened her mouth to say something else but Shinichi quickly pulled out his phone and opened a picture. He slid it across the table to her. " _This_ is what I want to talk about."

She picked up the phone and glanced over the screen, considering it carefully for a good few seconds. Then she set it down and slid it back toward Shinichi. "A bit gaudy," she said. "You should pick something more subtle. I'm sure a magician, even a flashy one like Kaito, wouldn't want to have a big rock like that on their finger all the time."

"I… _What_? You– I'm not _proposing_." He snatched the phone from the table and swiped to another picture of the fake Pandora resting in his hand instead of the close-up he'd shown her first, putting the gem's size into perspective. "This isn't for a ring," he said. "It's for a heist. I want to use it to lure out KID."

Sonoko's expression went flat and she stared at him for an uncomfortably long time before slapping her hand down on the table with a loud and dramatic sigh. "I can't believe it. Chasing criminals really is _all_ you think about. I feel sorry for Kaito."

 _Oi, oi. Don't go feeling_ too _sorry for him,_ Shinichi thought, rolling his eyes.

"Look, all I want to know is if you'd be interested in helping me and the police with this setup. Pretend to be the jewel's owner."

Sonoko leaned back in her chair. "What makes you think my KID-sama would fall for something like that? Maybe I don't wanna be a part of such a lame plan."

Shinichi let out a sigh, resisting the urge to rub at his temples. "We chose this jewel by analyzing all of KID's previous targets so that it would fit with the type of jewel he's most likely to go for. He'll at least come to check it out. But you can't tell _anybody_ about this. KID's got ears everywhere. Only me, you, and Nakamori-keibu know."

"Why don't _you_ be the owner then? Where did you get this thing anyway? Where's the _actual_ owner?"

"It's a family heirloom," Shinichi said with a wry twist to his lips. "But it would be way too obvious if somebody like me or my dad put out an advertisement to show off a jewel. KID would be suspicious. The point of this is to set it up so everything works in our favor when he comes for it, and we want him to think it's his idea – have him come to us. Are you interested or not?"

"Hm. Well, you're not gonna be able to catch KID-sama anyway, and if he _does_ show up I'll get the chance to meet him again." She leaned over the table with a sharp grin. "And, if he _doesn't_ show up, it'll be something to hold over your head for a while," she added cheerfully.

"Great," Shinichi sighed. "I'll let you know the details later–"

"But I have one condition."

Shinichi froze in dread, staring like a deer in headlights.

"I'll only agree to this plan of yours – and only keep quiet about it – if I get to hang on to the jewel the whole time. That way I'm sure to see KID-sama when he comes for it." She nodded decisively and Shinichi's hand flinched into a fist under the table.

"You can't do that," he said and Sonoko immediately fixed him with a dark glare.

"What do you mean _I can't_ ," she stated. "If I'm the owner, I should have it with me."

"The whole point is for us to set up an optimal scenario for catching KID," Shinichi tried, just barely forcing down his desperation. "Right now we're thinking we'll have it on display at one of your family's museums in Yokohama and–"

"No deal. If I can't hang on to it, then I'm not playing along, and your whole plan falls apart if KID finds out this is all a trap. So what's it gonna be."

She had him in a corner and she knew it, so she wasn't going to back down. Shinichi met her eyes, his finger tapping out a nervous beat on his knee under the table. If he said yes, it might not matter. The fake plan he'd fed to Nakamori was for them to set up a trap at the museum, but the actual heist would happen on the _Queen Selizabeth_ while the jewel was in transit from Tokyo to Yokohama. But the moment KID announced his intentions to steal it on the ship, Sonoko would likely just insist on hanging on to it then.

Shinichi glanced around the empty room again quickly then made up his mind and leaned in a little closer, lowering his voice. "Look, Sonoko, there's another reason we're doing this and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Get hurt?" she scoffed. "We're talking about Kaitou KID-sama. Everybody knows–"

"But it's not just him," Shinichi insisted. "I'm sure you've heard about some of the stuff that's been happening at his heists. The snipers that show up. They're part of a much larger criminal organization and they could show up here. They've shown interest in the jewels KID goes after too, and I don't want them going after _you_."

"Your concern is adorable, but I think I'll be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen at a Kaitou KID heist. So that's my deal. I get to hold on to the jewel during the heist, or I let the cat out of the bag." She grinned cheekily at him and Shinichi's nails dug a little harder into his palm.

"…Do you remember the Mariner's Sorrow heist?" he asked quietly.

"Huh?"

"That night, a sniper came after KID and ended up shooting into the crowd to lure him out into the open. A girl was shot. She could have been killed."

Sonoko entirely missed his point, as well as his serious tone. "Nobody holds that against KID-sama," she said, waving her hand. "He knocked the guy out and the police arrested him, so it's fine. If we let things like that stop us, nobody would ever go to his heists, right? Those people you're talking about – they don't always show up, and KID-sama will be there. If anything, I'll be safer with the jewel because my KID-sama will protect me!"

For a long time, Shinichi was quiet, looking hard at the table, deep in thought. Sonoko heaved another dramatic sigh and tapped her finger, waiting and not caving in the least.

"Okay," Shinichi said eventually. "I'm not promising anything, but I'll talk to Nakamori-keibu. But you have to promise that in the meantime you won't tell _anyone_ about this. Okay?"

Sonoko settled back in her chair again, her smile supremely smug. "Sure."

.

"Absolutely _not_."

"I know, but–"

"We'll just have to find a different fake owner."

"If we do, Sonoko won't keep quiet about it," Shinichi said, reaching up to slide a book back onto a shelf in the Kudou library. "The Organization will get suspicious. It could ruin the whole plan and you know we only get one shot. It has to be her."

"…Then I'll talk to her." Kaito insisted. "She _cannot_ be holding on to that jewel when they come for it."

"I don't know if you'll be able to convince her." _Though if anybody can…_

"I'll figure something out."

They both instinctively looked toward the sound when the doorbell rang. Then Kaito was quickly scanning the large room for any evidence of their plans – an unnecessary precaution – even as Shinichi headed out into the foyer to answer the door. "Shinichi, hi," Ran said as he opened it. "I need to talk to you. Is Kaito here?" Kaito came out of the library and Ran pushed past Shinichi into the house. "Oh good; I can talk to you both."

Shinichi met the brief flicker of Kaito's eyes and shrugged as he closed the front door.

"So," Ran said, rounding on the two of them and looking very much like a mother about to scold two small children. "Just what are you two planning?"

"Uh…" Shinichi said, but he didn't have to worry much about expanding his response. Kaito was on it.

"Is something wrong, Ran?" he asked.

Ran didn't bother acknowledging the question. She'd come prepared for distractions and evasion tactics, and it wasn't happening. Not today. "Sonoko told me about the setup you wanted her to help with," she said.

"Tch, that Sonoko. I told her not to tell _anyone_ ," Shinichi muttered.

"What's your plan? _Really_ ," Ran insisted, ignoring him. "What are you actually trying to do?"

"Exactly what she said." Shinichi shrugged. "We're gonna lure out KID, to catch him."

"No you're not," Ran said, shooting for patient and missing just marginally. "There would be no point. Because KID is right here." She pointed at Kaito without looking away from Shinichi, and it took everything in him not to freeze up like they'd been caught. Even if they had. "So just tell me what's really going on. Sonoko said it would be dangerous. What are you doing?"

"Uh, hang on a second, Ran," Shinichi said. "What do you mean about KID? Heh, you've been spending too much time with Hakuba-kun now that he's dating Aoko, right?"

"No," Ran said firmly. "Look at him! Don't you think he looks a little too much like _you_?"

"Lots of people–"

"And I've seen his abilities as a magician. How many people can there really be with those same skills?"

"I can't decide if I'm being complimented or not." Kaito grinned, rocking back on his heels with his hands in his pockets. "I mean normally I'd take being compared to KID as a _great_ compliment but I'm not sure I like your tone."

"And even more than that," Ran went on, mostly ignoring Kaito and only sparing him a quick glare. "Shinichi… the way you talk about KID and how you act around him… It's just like how you are with Kaito, isn't it?"

"Ooh~?" Kaito said, his voice sliding up with teasing interest and his grin widening. Shinichi's face went pink.

"Wh-What the hell are you talking about, idiot?" he stammered. "How is it the same?"

"Everyone can see it, Shinichi," Ran sighed, her hands moving to her hips. "I'm not stupid. Sonoko's shown me the, uh… 'fan theories' about you two. They're kind of extreme but they do have a point." She was blushing as well, and rushing the words a little, and before she knew it she'd added, "I mean even before, you were always chasing after him, so–"

"Before?" Kaito asked, losing some of his mirth to genuine confusion and interest.

Ran froze, her blush darkening, looking very much like she was the one who'd been caught this time. She glanced nervously between Shinichi and Kaito, both of them watching her expectantly, and quickly gave in, folding her arms tightly in front of her and taking a slow, deep breath. The blush faded somewhat and she gathered herself to say firmly, "Yeah, before. As Conan-kun."

Kaito felt a jolt of adrenaline cut through him and he allowed himself a quick glance at Shinichi, easily disguising his concern as confusion. Shinichi wasn't quite as composed. His face had gone a little pale and he stammered slightly over his response.

"Er, uh, what are you talking about, Ran?" he asked with an obviously nervous smile. "Conan? You mean that kid in the glasses? I guess he did chase KID a lot, but what's that got to do with me?"

Ran's eyes narrowed over a scowl and Kaito took a half step back. "Still, huh?" she murmured darkly. "You still… won't tell me the truth. Even now." She hadn't intended to ask – had honestly settled on letting it go since it seemed to all be over with for good this time, but it was too late now, so she locked a fierce gaze on him, meeting his eyes with heated determination. "You know," she started stiffly. "It felt really familiar, donating blood when you got shot. It was just like last time."

Kaito glanced from Shinichi to Ran and back, caught somewhere between the feeling that he was an awkward third wheel to this conversation and the feeling that he should be doing something to help, but he didn't know what. He didn't have enough information; he could just as easily make things worse.

"It got me thinking," Ran went on. "How every single time I would start to think that maybe it was true, something would happen to make me think I was just being stupid. But this time I _really_ thought about it, and each time it was you and Conan-kun together, someone else was missing. Hattori-kun's disguise at the school play was what really convinced me. It was always like that, wasn't it. Or it'd be just your shadow or your voice. I'm sure Hattori-kun and Agasa-hakase were helping you, and you even dragged poor Ai-chan into it, right? And Kaito, of course." She gave Kaito a long, withering look and he shrank back slightly. "I don't even want to think about how this relationship between the two of you started. Honestly," she muttered, still glaring at Kaito and missing the faint blush that returned briefly to Shinichi's face. "I just don't understand why I was the only one who couldn't know," she said, turning back to Shinichi. "It just seems like a cruel joke, you know?"

"Ran…" Shinichi said, but his throat seemed to close around any denial he could have made. After all, there was no point anymore. The Organization already knew full well that he had survived. He'd managed to keep them from finding out the drug's true effect on him, but that secret wouldn't protect Ran anymore. As long as he was alive, everyone he cared about would be targets.

"And for what?" Ran said before he could get his voice together. "Just so you could run around and solve mysteries without anybody knowing?"

"…Eh?" Shinichi said, his brain stalling somewhat in his surprise and confusion.

"I mean, I always knew you were a deduction maniac, Shinichi, but don't you think that's taking it a little too far?"

There was a moment of silence in the foyer and then Kaito burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer. "You…" he gasped. "You think he… he turned himself into a little kid to chase mysteries?" His eyes were watering a little and he shook his head as he slowly got himself back under control. "You really are hopeless, Shinichi, for something like that to be believable."

He finally quieted down when Shinichi jabbed an elbow into his ribs. "Shut up," he growled.

"It's true though, isn't it?" Ran insisted. "You even called me 'Ran-neechan' when you woke up in the hospital after you'd finally come back to stay."

 _Not good!_ Shinichi thought as Kaito's eyebrows moved up in mild surprise.

"And I bet you were only in there because growing that much all at once took a lot out of you. It all makes sense!"

"As much as something like that _can_ make sense," Kaito said with a shrug. It only earned him another glare.

"Don't you start with me, _KID_."

"Oi, oi. Are you still on that? I'm not–"

"Zip it. I'm not done with Shinichi. I'll get to _you_ in a minute. Or would you like me to tell Shinichi what KID did on Sonoko's uncle's airship? If it wasn't you, it shouldn't matter, right?"

"Uh…"

"Wait, what–?" Shinichi tried.

"I said _zip it_ ," Ran repeated, raising her fist. Both of them fell silent. "Now. Let's end this. You asked me once if I had any proof. I had it all figured out and you asked me for proof, and then your mother showed up and fooled me again. Well this time I've got it. Take off your shirt."

"…What?" Kaito and Shinichi both said.

Ran took a quiet breath. "Conan-kun… Conan-kun got shot." She reached slowly out toward Shinichi and rested her hand over the left side of his abdomen. "I bet you have a scar. Right here, in the same place."

Kaito's eyes widened just a little and Shinichi didn't answer quickly enough. Ran grabbed a fistful of fabric and pulled it up.

"H-Hey!" Shinichi stammered, blushing a little and shoving her hands away, but not before Ran had spotted it. The scar from that wound was faint now, his body having rebuilt around it when he took the antidote, but it was there. Shinichi took a step back, unable to meet Ran's wide, staring eyes. "You know that's not proof, Ran. It's just a coincidence. I get shot all the time…"

Kaito rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and looking away.

"Why?" Ran demanded. Her voice broke a little over the word but she quickly reigned it in, her eyes fixed on the floor. "Why would you put so much _effort_ into playing me for a fool all that time? That's the _one_ thing that kept me from letting myself really believe it. After you came back, I tried to convince myself that it didn't matter anymore but you are _still_ lying to me. I'm at my limit–"

"You're right."

Ran's head came up abruptly, staring at Shinichi, her mouth open just a little in shock.

"Shinichi–!" Kaito started, but one glance from Shinichi made him stop.

"I can't ask her to keep her theories secret without reason, and there are still some people whose safety depends on that secret. …Sorry, Kaito. Could you give us some time alone?"

"…Yeah," Kaito said. "I've got work tonight so I'll be back late, okay?" He met Shinichi's eyes for a moment and Shinichi nodded. When Kaito leaned in to give him a quick kiss, Shinichi grabbed his wrist, keeping him close just a second longer to whisper, "Be careful." Kaito just smiled at him.

"Good luck," he sighed, sounding a little too much like he thought all the luck in the world wouldn't save Shinichi now. "I'll, uh, see you later, Ran," he added with a smile.

"Uh huh…" Ran answered distantly.

Kaito just laughed and headed out. _Well, at least she's off my case about KID for a while,_ he thought. _But things are about to get_ interesting _for her and Shinichi._

.

"I'm home," Kaito called, stepping into the Kudou manor much later that night. He kicked off his shoes and shoved them to the side, heading for the light that was still on in the library despite it being 3AM. "Shinichi, you still up?"

He poked his head into the room and just barely avoided having it taken off by a soccer ball that went whizzing past him to bounce sharply off of the railing of the stairs. The beats of the ball hitting the floor echoed loudly in the foyer. Kaito stared at it for a few moments then turned back to the library to face Shinichi who was straightening up from the kick.

"What was that for?" Kaito complained.

" _That_ was for being a condescending ass half the time," Shinichi answered coolly.

"Is, uh… Is this about the airship?" Kaito asked, sheepish with a hand at the back of his head.

"That depends. Did you seriously eavesdrop on me then use what I said to convince Ran that _I was the Kaitou KID_?"

"…Yes?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "And then tried to kiss her? As 'me'?"

"Only sort of," Kaito said and Shinichi gave him a flat look.

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Well, I thought it would be kind of fun to try, but I didn't think she'd really let me, you know?"

"Kaito. You grabbed her ass. You're lucky she didn't kill you. I mean, no wonder she hates KID so much."

"Hey, it's not like I did it to be pervy or anything. It was a bad situation! She was really gonna let me kiss her _and she thought I was you_. That's messed up! I had to do _something_!"

"So you groped her since you knew _I'd_ never do that," Shinichi concluded flatly. "You could have just _said_ something. I swear, you take your pranks and your phantom thief persona way too far sometimes."

"Okay. And you're right. On two counts. KID wouldn't have intentionally admitted to that lie, and I get too far into the KID persona. It's a defense mechanism. You would too if you'd had the training I have."

"…Training?" Shinichi asked despite a feeling that he probably didn't want to know.

"Kaa-san's ruthless," Kaito said. "Even when she wasn't around, she'd use Aoko so I could never let my guard down, and told her about my… phobia, and always made sure I was up early, and–"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shinichi cut in. "You _always_ wake up early."

"Like I said, it's a defense mechanism," Kaito mumbled, remembering that one fateful morning near the end of his last year of high school where Aoko had gotten fed up with him sleeping in and had a large fish ready and waiting when he finally opened his eyes. He fidgeted, standing awkwardly in the doorway of the library and looking absolutely pathetic, but Shinichi didn't soften.

"That's not much of an excuse you know," he said.

"What do you want from me?" Kaito half whined in exasperation.

Shinichi just raised his eyebrows at him, arms crossed and looking fairly unimpressed.

"Here," Kaito tried. He raised his right hand. "On my honor as a phantom thief. No, better. On my honor as the Kaitou KID, I won't grope anybody but you ever again." He grinned at him and Shinichi groaned, covering his face with a hand. "Oh come on," Kaito said. "You've gotta give me _something_ to work with. And hey, I swore on my old man's namesake. Isn't that good enough?"

"Yeah, yeah," Shinichi sighed, giving up.

"Good." Kaito moved into the library, walking right up to Shinichi and holding out his hand. "Friends?" he offered with a grin.

A smirk flickered across Shinichi's face before fading to a stoic, slightly haughty expression as he took Kaito's hand and replied coolly, "Friends." Then he moved past him and headed for the door. Kaito turned to watch him go, eyes wide and sad and lip pouted just slightly, looking pitiful. Shinichi stopped in the doorway to glance back and let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Honestly…" he said. "Come here."

A grin wiped away the pathetic display in an instant and then Kaito was at his side, drawing him into his arms. "I knew you couldn't resist–" he started, but Shinichi cut him off.

"Kaito. Seriously. Stop talking."

Kaito smiled and shrugged and Shinichi leaned in to kiss him, just a soft touch of lips, before he pulled closer, his arms tight around him and the side of his head resting against Kaito's.

"…I told her everything," he said softly. "The drug and the Organization and Conan… I didn't say anything about Haibara, but I'm sure she'll figure it out. But she understands now why I did it, and that it's dangerous to ask too many questions."

"…Was she mad?"

Kaito felt Shinichi breathe out a quiet laugh, his breath warm on the back of Kaito's neck. "You know her," he said. "She was so busy being worried over the trouble I've gotten into that she forgot to be angry. But I'm sure I'll be in for it tomorrow once she's had some time to take it all in."

"Yeah," Kaito laughed. "I may have grabbed her ass but you've taken baths with her~"

"Not on purpose!" Shinichi protested, clinging harder and blushing as he hid his face against Kaito's neck. Kaito's hands moved across Shinichi's back in wide, soothing circles without conscious thought.

"So?" he asked. "What about the plan? Are we off the hook, do you think?"

"Mm, it actually came up," Shinichi mumbled against his shoulder. "…I told her the Organization is involved with KID and with the plan we've got going, so she's gonna try to talk Sonoko out of hanging on to the jewel during the heist."

"That's just as well I guess," Kaito sighed. "She's probably the only one who could change her mind."

"She'll keep the old man and Kosuke-kun away, too, but she insisted on being there herself. I didn't argue with her."

"It's fine. We'd already planned for that anyway."

Shinichi finally pulled back from him a little to check his watch over Kaito's shoulder. "It's pretty late," he said. "How did it go?"

Kaito smirked. "I dropped everything off at my place. There should be plenty."

"…Do I wanna know where you got it?"

"Probably not," he said with a grin.

"Oi, oi… It'll cause a panic if that much goes missing–"

"What do you take me for? I edited the shipping and inventory records. It never existed, so it won't be missed, right?"

"…You're a little scary sometimes, you know that?" Shinichi said.

"Yeah? Keeps things interesting, don't you think?" He winked, then suddenly scooped Shinichi up off of his feet, carrying him toward the stairs. Shinichi immediately latched on to Kaito's shirt, clinging to him in his surprise.

"Hey, Kaito! Put me down!"

"Nope~!"

.

The sun hadn't risen yet when Kaito heard the single distinctive chirp from his phone ring out in the dark quiet of Shinichi's bedroom. Adrenaline spiked through him but he turned himself more fully against Shinichi's side, trying to ignore it. He knew what it was. The search program he'd written in the few months between when he'd moved to Beika and when he'd started dating Shinichi had picked up a news article announcing the Pyrrha's Stone – a large blue diamond owned by the youngest daughter of the Suzuki Corporation – to be displayed for a short time at one of the family's museums in Yokohama.

But if this had been real and not the carefully planned scheme it actually was, he wouldn't have bothered checking the alert right away, so to keep a realistic timeline for his next steps, Kaito lay in the bed, wide awake, with his thoughts chasing themselves in circles. Shinichi had given the article to the police the previous morning and the police had given it to one Tokyo newspaper and one Yokohama newspaper to be printed the next day – just a small article, by no means front page news. Just subtle enough.

Now the article was online, live, and being distributed in print as well any minute now on this inconspicuous Thursday morning. It was out there for everyone, for anyone, for _them_ to see. Snake could be reading it right now…

Kaito groaned softly and tucked his head against Shinichi's neck, clinging and trying to make his brain shut up. Shinichi didn't wake, but he moved a little, turning his head toward Kaito and settling his chin into soft, wild hair. Kaito closed his eyes and tried to focus on Shinichi's even breathing.

Kaito didn't get any more sleep that morning. When he thought it was about the time he'd normally have gotten up anyway, he rolled over and unplugged his phone, opening the alert sent from his program and looking up the article. Seeing it there on the news site exactly as planned did nothing to help him relax. He shut the phone screen off and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He had work to do.

"Shinichi," Kaito murmured, pressing close to his side again.

"Nn," he grumbled back.

Kaito shifted over a little, laying half on top of him to touch a few quick, light kisses across his cheek. "Wake up a minute, Shinichi," he whispered. "I need to go."

Shinichi's eyes opened then, and his arm moved without conscious thought to circle around Kaito's lower back, keeping him in place on top of him.

"Tell me where you're going?" Shinichi asked.

"Just home for now," Kaito answered and Shinichi nodded.

"Good luck, I guess," he murmured and Kaito smiled.

"You'll be hearing from me."

He lowered his lips to Shinichi's, gentle at first, but Shinichi's other arm came around, shifting Kaito more fully on top of him and tightening his hold as they deepened the kiss.

"Be careful," Shinichi whispered, reluctantly easing his grip once they'd broken apart. "I love you."

"Love you too," Kaito said, pulling himself up on his hands and knees and smiling down at him. "See ya later." And then he was gone.

Shinichi let out a sigh and turned onto his side, drawing the blanket close around himself. He closed his eyes, but there was no way he could sleep now. Their plan had truly begun and it was only a matter of time – just a matter of passing the hours until they would face down the Organization.

.

Shinichi spent the rest of the day trying to distract himself with cold cases and mystery novels, but he was too restless to really focus on anything. He was making dinner with the news on in the next room that evening when he heard it. The audio cut out with a sharp buzz of static and didn't come back on. Curious, he wandered to the doorway of the kitchen to look into the sitting room and dropped his chopsticks. The screen had gone white, with only a few short lines of bold black kanji printed across it reading, "I will return to that ship and take the jewel tomorrow night. Kaitou KID."

Shinichi stared for the entire ninety seconds that the notice was on the screen. Then the news cut back in, new headlines already scrolling, and a smaller image of the notice displayed in the corner as confused newscasters announced the simultaneous hijacking of several local TV stations.

"Geez Kaito," he breathed out, pushing a hand through his hair and bending down to snatch the chopsticks from the floor. "That's one way to get their attention."

He started to turn back to the kitchen, but he paused, his eyes moving again to the image of the notice.

… _Tomorrow night._

.

 **Author Note:**

Okay, are you guys ready? The next chapter is (predictably) "Counterstrike: Part Two" and I want to say well ahead of time that this is where a lot of our heavier tags/warnings come into play, bloodshed and murder being the most prominent that come to mind. Please let me know if you would like more details before reading, or if you ever feel like additional warnings would have been helpful – I will gladly adjust for future readers, and take the feedback into account before posting future stories.

Only two chapters to go! Please look forward to them~!


	35. Chapter 35

As a reminder, this chapter includes a good deal of bloodshed (that isn't really any worse than things that have already happened in this fic) and murder (which is more graphic than I have gone into so far in this fic). If you have concerns, please let me know.

.

 **Case 35 – Counterstrike: Part 2**

.

" _You told me to take care of the thief. Now you say you want to tag along. What the hell do you want, Gin?"_

" _My assignment is to bring Kudou Shinichi in alive. And you've made a very good point."_

"… _What's that?"_

" _Kudou Shinichi tends to turn up at heists. And something this big? He's not gonna miss it. So we'll just have to cooperate, won't we."_

.

Daybreak found Kaitou KID standing on the roof of the Kudou manor, staring out at a distant horizon beyond which the _Queen Selizabeth_ waited, docked in Tokyo Bay. He wondered absently if his task force was already there making preparations.

"Is this really a good idea?" a voice asked from the window below him. KID grinned and crouched down to help his detective up onto the roof. Shinichi took his hand without hesitation and climbed up, standing beside him on the slanted shingles.

"Not at all," KID answered, tucking his hands into his pockets, and he might have been referring to the heist, or to the simple act of standing on Shinichi's roof in uniform. Shinichi sighed and settled on "both," and KID turned his eyes back toward Tokyo Bay.

It was a little strange, Shinichi reflected, seeing the Moonlight Magician outlined in the blazing glow of early morning sun, still low and bright white on the horizon. And yet, he didn't seem out of place. It was the confidence, Shinichi decided, that made him seem _right_ everywhere.

"You ready, Meitantei?"

Shinichi pushed a hand through his hair and closed his eyes. There was a cool, gentle breeze blowing and the sky was clear. The waters would be calm. He smiled a little and thanked whatever force always seemed to make Kaito so lucky.

"Yeah."

.

Kaito was tucked on a rafter in a dark warehouse on the docks of Tokyo Bay observing his task force and the Division One officers through a pair of binoculars as they bustled about. Sonoko and Ran had already arrived as well. His gaze lingered on them for an extra moment as he swallowed back his anxiety. There was really no need to worry. Their plans were sound.

"Kaito-sama."

Kaito lowered the binoculars and glanced over his shoulder. "Geez, Jii-chan. I told you, I'm not my old man. You don't have to call me that."

Jii walked across the rafter beam to join him in front of the segmented windowpane. "Everything is set. We're ready to begin."

"That was quick," Kaito sighed. He stood and vanished the binoculars. "Do you want a hand?" he asked, glancing down at where the warehouse floor disappeared into darkness far below them.

Jii grinned, and it was truly evident that he'd spent a good part of his life surrounded by the Kurobas. "I thought I'd break these in actually," he said, thumbing the elasticity suspenders Agasa had made for him in preparation for the plan. He removed them and latched them around the beam then carefully stepped into the second loop. The suspenders stretched smoothly down to the floor. "Much easier for an old man like me," he called up as Kaito pulled out his new grappling hook gun – a second he'd made to avoid the issue of being unable to switch quickly between the hook and other ammo. He landed beside Jii and collapsed his hook, retracting the cable back into the gun. Then it disappeared and Kaito's hands went to his hips as he let out a sigh.

"All right, you ready Jii-chan? Time to get things started." He headed for the door, stepping confidently in the darkness.

"Good luck, Kaito-sama," Jii replied and Kaito paused.

"I already told you, Jii-chan–"

"I know," Jii said. "You are not your father. But you're not a child anymore either, Kaito-sama. You're a great magician. Better than your father before you. And that's the truth."

For a few long seconds, Kaito stood in a somewhat stunned silence, but then he glanced back at Jii and said, almost too quiet to hear, "Thanks, Jii-chan." He turned away again, composed in an instant, and raised his head. "Well then," he said with the strength of confidence. There was a soft explosion of smoke and Kaitou KID appeared with a swirl of his white cape. "Time to see what it's worth."

.

"Absolutely not," Nakamori rumbled. He was standing in front of the boarding stairs up to the _Queen Selizabeth_ , his arms outstretched, blocking the way. "I thought Kudou-kun explained it to you. Absolutely _no one_ on the boat until it's time to depart."

Sonoko's fists were planted firmly on her hips as she squared off with him, Ran at her side. "It's _our_ ship and it's _my_ jewel. And besides, Shinichi's on board already. Why should he get to go?"

"It's part of Kudou-kun's plan," Nakamori said, more than a little grudgingly. "The captain is on board as well to get the ship ready, but _that's it_."

Sonoko scoffed and folded her arms, her nose in the air.

"Come on, Sonoko," Ran soothed. "We'll have the whole ride to Yokohama to check things out, right?"

"But what if–"

"Let's go see if we can find Kaito, how 'bout that?" Ran insisted, grabbing her arm. "I bet he can tell us all sorts of things about the plan tonight." She practically dragged Sonoko off down the crowded docks, squeezing between police officers and ship's crew and news reporters to get some distance from the _Queen Selizabeth_. Her grip tightened on Sonoko's arm as she cast a nervous glance back at the ship.

 _Please be safe, Shinichi…_

At the boarding stairs, Nakamori pulled out his radio and called three task force officers over. "I need you three to guard this area," he explained. "I'm going to check on the police boats. Don't let a single person through until it's time."

They agreed with enthusiasm and Nakamori stalked off, disappearing into the crowd. When he emerged from the mass of people, he walked straight past the docked police boats and over to a small shop that they had closed down for the night. He went inside and found Nakamori Ginzo right where he had left him – deep asleep and drooling a little where he was sitting on the floor, propped up behind the counter. KID crouched down and pulled off his mask, grinning.

"Thanks for your hard work, Nakamori-keibu~!" he said, keeping his voice soft. He stood and tossed the mask onto the floor along with the suit and shoes, suddenly dressed in his own street clothes. "Stay out of trouble for me, okay Inspector?" he added, and then he was gone.

.

"Hey guys!" Kaito called, waving an arm over his head at Sonoko and Ran. They ran toward each other and met up in the midst of the crowds on the docks. "How come you guys aren't on the boat yet?" he asked.

"What, your boyfriend didn't tell you?" Sonoko groused, and Kaito pretended not to notice the eye roll Ran tried to disguise as an innocent glance at the moon. "No one's allowed on board but _him_."

Kaito just shrugged. "He's been really guarded about the whole thing. Kinda paranoid really, but I guess this _is_ KID we're talking about. You never know when he's listening–"

He was cut off by a collective gasp from the crowd around them, coupled with a few shouts and shrieks of excitement as a bang echoed around the docks. An enormous cloud of white smoke issued up from the very top of the _Queen Selizabeth_ and the wind quickly swept it away, revealing Kaitou KID in full regalia, his cape billowing out behind him. About a third of the crowd erupted in cheers.

 _Nice timing, Kaa-san,_ Kaito thought, hiding a smirk. Ran was staring up at KID, her mouth open a little, and every now and then she'd glance back just to make sure Kaito was still really there.

"Is that…?" she said weakly.

"Hm?" Kaito prompted.

 _Shinichi…?!_ Ran thought, eyes wide.

"Welcome everyone!" KID called from the top of the ship, his voice echoing in the night. "I'm glad you all could make it out for my heist but I have a bit of business to tend to tonight so I think I'll just do what phantom thieves do best and be on my way~!" He took off his hat and held it to his chest as he swept a deep bow. Then a loud hissing sounded abruptly on the docks, seeming to come from all over, and more thick white smoke billowed up from nowhere, swallowing the crowds and the port in its entirety.

The people on the docks immediately started to move – just small, nervous shifting at first, but as shoulders bumped and jostled the movement escalated, the inherent fear of sudden blindness riling everyone. Sonoko felt hands close on her upper arms and she started to shout, but the hands just moved her forcefully to the side, and she found herself pushed right up against Ran. Ran immediately grabbed onto her and held her tight so they wouldn't be separated in the smoke and confusion of the churning crowd.

"Are you okay?" Ran asked, holding her ground firmly for them both as people bumped into them on all sides.

"Y-Yeah, I'm okay," Sonoko answered. "Kaito?" she called out, but there was no answer.

The strong breeze off the bay cleared the smoke before too long and everyone calmed, looking around. Sonoko called out for Kaito again, but he was nowhere to be seen. Then a voice rose up over the commotion.

"Kaitou KID…! Kaitou KID stole the whole ship!"

Almost as one, heads turned toward the bay where the _Queen Selizabeth_ had already pulled a good distance away from the dock and out into open water, leaving everyone behind.

"Follow him!" Amane shouted to her fellow task force officers over the swell of excitement and alarm. "To the boats! Hurry!"

All around, officers pulled free from the crowd, running for the police boats. There were already officers there, but they were just standing around on the docks, looking uncertain.

"What are you doing?" Amane demanded. "Let's go! Where's Nakamori-keibu?"

"No one's seen him in a while," someone answered.

"Tch. Never mind. We know where KID is – let's get after him!"

"But Amane-san," one of them started as Amane leapt the side of one of the boats and went for the controls. She tried to start up the motor, but nothing happened. Her head dropped forward, already knowing what the officer was about to tell her.

"They've all been sabotaged," he said. "And the helicopters, too. There's not a single one left. We can't follow him."

"Hey, Amane-san," Kazeno said, folding his arms over the side of the boat. Amane wearily lifted her head to glance up at him. "Kudou-kun is on that ship… right?"

Amane started to laugh. "That's right," she said. Then she let out a sigh. "Yeah… That's right. Come on. Let's see if we can find Nakamori-keibu. I bet he's sleeping around here somewhere…"

.

Tucked away in a random guest room somewhere on the vast ship, there was a false wall with a hidden door that led into a small, dark room. Inside were only a small table, a large first aid kit, one thief, and one detective.

" _I'm on the docks,"_ Chikage's voice said through the earpieces they both wore. _"Everything looks good. Just the one unmarked boat following alongside – one person driving it."_

" _I'm on the bridge. All clear for now. Nothing else on radar,"_ Jii's voice reported.

"Good," KID whispered, feeling slightly ridiculous to be talking into a cufflink, but grateful to have a reliable line of contact between him, Shinichi, Chikage, and Jii. Agasa had really outdone himself. "Shinichi and I are in the hidden room. About to get started."

"Hang on a second, KID," Shinichi murmured. He raised his own wrist, also wearing one of the rigged cufflinks, and said into it, "Snake _is_ on board, but Gin and Vodka are too." He felt KID stiffen beside him. "Be careful, Captain," he added to Jii, sticking to Jii's disguise as a codename just to be safe. "I don't know why they're here. Let us know right away if they try to get onto the bridge."

"Let's give them something else to worry about," KID said quietly, his tone dark with hatred. Over the com he added, "Game start!"

.

KID and Shinichi split up upon leaving the secret room, KID heading down to the vault to "steal" the Pyrrha's Stone and Shinichi heading off to see if he could find Gin, Vodka, and Snake. KID had briefly tried to convince him to only report back on their movements, and on another day Shinichi might have lied and said that he would, but he knew that lying to each other and deciding things on their own wasn't the right way to do this.

"If I see an opportunity to take out Gin or Vodka, I'm taking it," he'd told him in hushed but firm tones. "They're not part of the plan. It's safest to get them out of the way if we can."

So he'd headed to the engine room – the same place he would go if he didn't know the ship but wanted to find something valuable on it.

 _Dammit, they're all together,_ he thought, peeking around a doorway beyond which Snake, Gin, and Vodka were all staring at a schematic of the ship. _Since when are they on such friendly terms?_

He edged away from the doorway, but he didn't want to move too far, making sure he kept any means of exit in sight in case they found what they needed and left the room. "KID," he whispered into the com. "All three in the engine room. Better make it quick; won't be long 'til they head your way."

" _Got it,"_ was the short reply and Shinichi hoped Kaito's confidence that he'd be able to legitimately crack the large safe quickly had not just been for show.

Then Shinichi heard heavy, hesitant footsteps coming his way, and he glanced around the corner to see Vodka stepping out into the hallway alone. He seemed to be looking around cautiously, a gun out and ready in his hand.

 _Shit, did they hear me?_ Shinichi edged back a little farther around the corner, his fingers light on his watch. _Still… having Vodka away from the other two might be a good thing. I can knock_ him _out at least._

He waited, tense, for Vodka to come his way, but seconds crawled by and no one appeared. The hallway was quiet and Shinichi chanced another look around the corner, watch ready, but there was no one there.

 _Did he go back into the engine room?_ he thought, concentrating on the murmuring voices, but they were too quiet and the metallic echo of the space made it difficult to tell who exactly was speaking. Still, he was fairly certain one of the voices belonged to Vodka. _Guess I missed my chance,_ he thought. _But if I can get some information…_

He was listening hard, trying to make out their words from down the short hall and around the corner, and he didn't register the softer, more confident footsteps behind him until a moment too late. As he turned, Gin's arm swung down hard, his handgun thudding against Shinichi's head. Shinichi's knees folded and he collapsed, flat on the floor as he tried to blink away the static he seemed to be seeing.

"Well, well," Gin said, crouching down beside him and lifting Shinichi's head by his hair. "This _does_ seem familiar."

Shinichi barely heard him. He was struggling for consciousness, fighting as best he could, but there was fear there too, deeper than he could have imagined, and the scene dropped to black. His eyes closed, all resistance bleeding out of him, and Gin dropped him with a quiet laugh.

"That was easy. Vodka," Gin called down the hallway, and Vodka and Snake came out of the engine room. "Take him to the boat."

"Right," Vodka said, and he picked up Shinichi, tossing him easily over one broad shoulder and heading up to the deck outside.

"Well?" Snake said, eyeing Gin. "You got what you came for. Why don't you get outta my way and let me do my job." He shouldered past Gin but paused when Gin laughed.

"Too bad, Snake. That person gave me another order. I'll be sticking around a little longer. Nothing for you to worry about," he added with a sharp grin.

Snake just rolled his eyes. "Do what you want," he said, and he started on his way to the ship's vault as Gin headed back into the engine room for another look at the schematics.

.

The moment the vault was open KID reached in and grabbed the jewel, stuffing it into a pocket as he ran for the stairs. He didn't stop until he had climbed up onto the roof of the very highest deck of the ship where he kicked open a white storage bench he'd taken from another part of the ship earlier that day and bolted to the roof right against the smokestack. Inside, the bench was filled with explosives.

KID knelt beside the bench, reaching in to make a final check of his setup. He didn't bother looking up when Snake climbed onto the roof as well.

"Kaitou KID," he said, aiming his gun steadily at KID's back.

"Snake," KID replied lightly, not pausing in his work. "Murder any good magicians lately?"

"Heh, no, but I've got my eye on one. How 'bout it? You gonna hand over that jewel, or you gonna join your predecessor?"

"Oh~?" KID said. "Are you sure you wanna do that? This is delicate work and there are enough explosives here to break this ship in half. I really don't think you'd survive."

Snake laughed. "Sounds like a bluff. What would _you_ need a giant bomb for?"

KID smirked and entered the key code to arm the bomb. Inside the bench, a little red light started blinking. He stood to face Snake. "Or maybe I'll just set it off myself," he said, pulling out the jewel.

Snakes eyes went huge and round as the red glow gathered under the moon's light. He glanced at the bomb and back to the jewel, and his grip tightened on the gun, a nervous swallow working his throat. "You're bluffing," he said again. "You know if you put the jewel in there with that bomb, I'll go to grab it as soon as you leave. You don't kill. Everybody knows that. You're not gonna set it off."

"Who said I was leaving?" KID replied. He leaned over, slow and careful, and wedged the jewel into a crevice on the top of the massive bomb, then stepped back. Snakes eyes tracked his every movement, but he couldn't help looking back every few seconds to the churning red glow under the gleaming facets.

"What do you mean? You're not leaving? You're gonna blow it up while you're standing right next to it?" He was trying to sound skeptical, but there was a hint of alarm in his voice that said he thought KID was just crazy enough to do it.

"To rid the world of Pandora? I might not care." KID pulled out a remote and Snake panicked, pulling the trigger almost on reflex, but KID had predicted that. The bullet passed through an empty cloud of purple smoke and then KID was right in front of Snake, one hand gripping Snake's wrist hard and keeping his gun pointed down at the roof. "Or maybe I just know I'm fast enough to jump and take you with me~!" he said through a grin.

"I wouldn't, Kaitou KID."

KID froze with his thumb on the switch of his remote and glanced back over his shoulder. Gin was standing beside the bomb, the jewel in his right hand and a gun in his left. He took a few calm paces away from the bench, watching the gem's glow with interest. "So this is what all the fuss is about, huh?" He raised the gun to KID's back. "Give me that remote."

"What the hell are you doing here, Gin?" Snake barked and KID's heart sped before he could rein it in.

 _So this… is Gin…_

"Your job, apparently," Gin answered.

"Like hell," Snake spat, and he suddenly grabbed onto KID's shoulder, ramming a knee into his diaphragm then yanking him to the side by KID's grip on his wrist to get him off balance. KID didn't let go, and he had to vanish the remote to free up a hand, but Snake had already managed to pull him around so that they had switched places – KID backed precariously to the edge of the roof with Snake standing between him and Gin. Snake pried KID's fingers from around his wrist and pointed the gun into his face with a particularly nasty sneer. " _Nobody_ is taking this away from me," he growled.

"Snake–" KID warned, his eyes wide and staring past the gun to a point _behind_ Snake. Snake hesitated just for a second and KID grabbed on to him, already falling back to take them both over the edge of the roof, but Gin _didn't_ hesitate. Two shots went off and KID felt the impact through his chest even as they fell, Gin's razor-edged grin over his smoking gun disappearing from view above them.

KID clawed desperately at the release for his hang glider but with Snake held against him he didn't get to it in time. The glider sprang open just as they crashed awkwardly onto the railing around the edge of the deck below, and the weight of the two men bent the lightweight rods and tore them free of the fabric before KID and Snake fell over the wrong side of the rail. They tumbled together to the next deck down, hitting the polished wood hard, and it was really only muscle memory and instinct that had KID forcing them into a roll as he tried to siphon off some of the force. But it wasn't enough. He was just barely clinging to consciousness and his strength gave out before they even came to a stop practically under the railing around the outer edge of the bottom deck, just an inch or two from falling overboard.

Gin peered down from the roof. He could just make out the large figure in black draped over the smaller figure in white, both lying still and silent two decks down. As he watched, blood slowly pooled and spread, darkening the pale wood of the deck around them. With a satisfied smile, Gin tucked the gem into his coat pocket and headed for the ladder that lead down from the roof as he pulled out his phone.

"Yeah, it's me," he said into it. "We have the detective and the rock, and the thief and Snake are dead. Let's get out of here."

.

 _So… they had the same idea that we did, huh?_ Phantom Lady shrank back a little farther into the shadows on the docks. She'd noticed someone acting suspicious and had decided to follow him. Now she was noticing them everywhere, loitering in critical spots, keeping an eye on things – the Organization's backup, just in case things went bad on the ship. _Well, that's fine,_ she thought. _They've got me outnumbered. Even if I took some out quietly, it might start more trouble than it's worth. As long as they're just surveillance, I can leave them alone._

But apparently it was too much to expect things to stay quiet with the volatile mix of sneaking criminals, frustrated cops, excited civilians, and eager reporters all gathered together on the docks. Phantom Lady didn't know how or where exactly it started, but suddenly there was gunfire, and the entire scene devolved into chaos.

For the most part – for a while – she was able to stay out of it, keeping quiet and staying hidden, offering the occasional stealthy assist to cover an officer's back without anyone knowing it had even happened.

But she wasn't the only one taking the more cautious route of the shadows. As she crept through warehouses and over rooftops, she noticed someone moving with her – not precisely, and not intentionally as far as Phantom Lady could tell, but a young woman in a fine black suit seemed to be skirting the chaos in similar circuits – a phone at her ear in one hand and a gun in the other. Phantom Lady edged closer and kept pace, listening in.

"Did I _tell_ you to send out the backup?" the woman snapped into the phone. "…No, I don't _care_ what's happening on the docks. Gin's got the ship– …Forget it. It's done. As long as this is your fault, we may as well use them. He's up against _him_ after all. … _You're_ going to get your worthless ass on a boat and join them." She ended the call and stuffed the phone back into a pocket, turning her focus more fully onto the commotion around her, but she also seemed to be moving with a more specific destination in mind now. Phantom Lady followed and saw her sneak over to the docked police boats, hesitating just slightly when she saw that they were deserted. She took one last cautious look around before running out from her cover and leaping lightly into one of the boats, going straight for the wiring beneath the controls. She paused before even touching it and sat back with a wry smirk.

"That guy…" she murmured, looking back over her shoulder at the distant ship in the bay.

Then, all at once, the shouting on the pier was drowned out by the beating of propellers and the roar of engines as two helicopters rushed by overhead and a small fleet of speedboats cut past the docks, all converging on the _Queen Selizabeth._

Phantom Lady swore silently and pulled down her goggles, zooming in on the helicopters, but they were unmarked, and the boats were clearly not police either. Swearing again, she wrenched off her boots with one hand as she raised her other wrist to whisper into the cufflink on her sleeve, "Two helicopters and an unknown number of speedboats headed your way. All Organization. I'm swimming out to take one." Then she ran straight past the woman on the sabotaged police boat and dove headfirst into the bay.

.

On the bridge, Jii glanced over the radar display. "I see them," he confirmed into the com. "Thirteen boats approaching and one still alongside. It looks like they're spreading out to surround the ship. Phantom Lady, your easiest target will be the one following directly behind."

He paused and listened for an acknowledgement but there was no reply. Still, that wasn't unusual. Stealth was, after all, a critical part of all this. None of them expected the others would be able to answer every time.

Jii went to a window and looked out over the water. The lights on the bridge were off and he could just make out a few of the much smaller wakes riling the moonlit water around the ship. Then the sound of rotor blades drew close and he ducked down under the window just as a spotlight passed over the bridge. It moved on quickly and he breathed out a sigh.

Minutes crawled by and Jii was starting to feel uneasy. There hadn't been a sound from any of the others. He raised his wrist. "Phantom Lady, is your boat secure?" he asked. No response. "KID," he said, and listened for a reply. "KID, status. …KID?" Giving up on that avenue and trying to ignore the way his stomach was beginning to twist with fear, he tried again. "Kudou-kun. Kudou-kun, report. Location and status. …Kudou-kun!"

Jii lowered the com and gritted his teeth. A few more minutes with no word from any of them and he made up his mind, pushing himself to his feet again and making a dash for the ship's controls. In less than a minute he'd cut power to all parts of the ship, as he'd been instructed to do if things went badly wrong. They were as good as dead in the water now, and they looked it. Then he changed out of the captain's uniform into black clothes, with the black glider cape at his shoulders, and settled in below the windows to wait.

.

"– _dou-kun, report. Location and status. …Kudou-kun!"_

Shinichi started to wake, not quite processing at first the desperate voice in his ear. Then his situation came back to him with a grasping shock of adrenaline. He was face down on the floor of a boat and Vodka was kneeling over him, holding his wrists behind his back. He had a rope in his hand, but he seemed to be hesitating as he spotted the pair of handcuffs hanging off of Shinichi's belt under his blazer. As Vodka tossed the rope aside and reached for the cuffs instead, Shinichi squeezed the trigger on his watch. The dart caught Vodka in the arm and he slumped forward on top of Shinichi with nothing more than a slurred, "Huh? Wha–?"

Shinichi kicked out from under Vodka and scrambled to his feet, nearly tripping over the ropes on the floor as he backed away. His breath was coming a little too quick as he looked down at himself. _I'm… I'm still me._ He let out a sigh and looked down at Vodka, then glanced quickly around. _Where's Gin…?_ His eyes caught on movement inside the enclosed cabin at the front of the boat and he took another step back. _Shit… I need–_ Shinichi ducked down and shoved Vodka over onto his back, pulling the gun from under Vodka's coat. He'd just straightened, the weapon raised and steady, when a woman stepped out of the cabin. She had a gun in her hand as well, but it was still at her side, and she froze when she saw Shinichi.

"Drop it," he warned. "Toss that over the side right now." The woman obeyed, hardly hesitating, and the gun hit the water with a small splash. "Good," Shinichi said. "Now take one of those life jackets and get in the water."

"R-Right," she agreed, looking as nervous as she sounded as Shinichi followed her movements with the gun. As soon as she was overboard, he tucked the weapon into his waistband and knelt again by Vodka, tying his wrists and ankles tightly with the ropes from the floor. Then he ran into the empty cabin to steer the boat back toward the _Queen Selizabeth_ , which had gone dark and still, a black shadow looming above the much smaller craft. There was a long ladder hanging down the side of the enormous ship and Shinichi left the controls to run out and grab it, letting the boat drift off as he jumped free of it and started the long climb back up to the deck.

He made it onboard and ducked under a set of stairs just as a helicopter flew by, its glaring spotlight sweeping over the ship. He held himself perfectly still, waiting for it to pass, then raised his wrist. "Captain, what's going on?"

The response was immediate and filled with relief. _"Kudou-kun,"_ Jii acknowledged gratefully. _"No one was answering so I cut the power."_

"Can you bring back just the radar?" Shinichi whispered, glancing around the darkened deck outside of his hiding place. "I think we've got some company…"

" _Two helicopters and thirteen additional Organization boats. They spread out somewhat after I cut the power – when it got too dark to see each other I think – but they have us surrounded."_

" _Tantei-kun."_

"KID–!" Shinichi answered, but he cut himself off from saying more. Something was wrong. Jii must have heard it too because he stayed silent, listening.

" _Tantei-kun, meet me in the hidden room as soon as possible."_

"…I'll head there now," Shinichi replied, and he got up and sprinted for the door that led to the hallways and ballrooms inside the ship, pausing only to ease it quietly shut behind him.

.

" _KID, status. …KID? …Kudou-kun. Kudou-kun, report. Location and status. …Kudou-kun!"_

There was a vague, wordless notion of "Jii's calling me; I should answer," floating in KID's mind as he came to. The feeling settled in right next to the one that told him Shinichi wasn't answering either, but it was all fogged by a thick veil of pain.

KID pried his eyes open and immediately wished he hadn't. He'd been aware to some degree of the weight on his chest, much heavier than that of the bulletproof vest that had saved him from Gin's gun, but _seeing_ Snake lying on top of him, covered in blood and eyes open in a dull, sightless stare, was something he'd wish he could forget for the rest of his life.

KID forced in a breath and grabbed blindly for the railing right beside him, but the moment he tried to drag his other arm out from under Snake's body he collapsed onto his back again, unable to silence a small cry at the pain bursting through it.

 _Broken,_ he thought bitterly as he used his good arm to carefully push Snake's dead weight aside. He had to close his eyes to manage it, the sight of the limp body and the colorless face he'd known and hated for years making him nauseous.

By the time he managed to pull himself completely free, his whole body was shaking and it was a fight to get his breathing under control. Then the lights all through the ship went out, and the sound of the engines died.

 _Jii-chan…_ KID reached again for the railing with his good arm and dragged himself to his feet, staggering just slightly before he could pull himself together. _Focus,_ he demanded, still clinging to the rail. _What's your next move?_ He looked around the dark deck and swallowed hard, knowing the answer. _Gin wouldn't have left me alive. He must have thought I was dead. I should try to keep it that way. So…_

Gritting his teeth and hating himself a little, KID knelt at Snake's side and slowly pushed the body under the railing, letting it fall over the edge and into the bay with a delayed and distant splash. The glider was broken and useless, so he fumbled with one hand to unhook it and used the remains of the cape to wipe away any blood on the rail and deck that did not fit with the image of two bodies slipping over the side on their own. Then he tossed his blood-soaked gloves, the cape, and the glider's braces overboard as well, keeping just two small sections of the metal rods with him for later.

" _Captain, what's going on?"_

KID started a little at the sound of Shinichi's voice through his earpiece and swore under his breath.

" _Kudou-kun. No one was answering so I cut the power."_

" _Can you bring back just the radar? I think we've got some company…"_

" _Two helicopters and thirteen additional Organization boats. They spread out somewhat after I cut the power – when it got too dark to see each other I think – but they have us surrounded."_

KID fumbled the cufflink off of his sleeve and held it up so he would not have to move his left arm. "Tantei-kun."

" _KID–!"_

"Tantei-kun, meet me in the hidden room as soon as possible."

"… _I'll head there now."_

KID's hat was lying on the deck near the wall opposite the railing and he picked it up, setting it back on his head and flinching a little when it touched an aching, tender spot he hadn't noticed before, but he pushed it out of mind, moving quietly away from the bloody deck and through a door to head for the hidden room.

.

Shinichi was the first to arrive, slipping into the guest room and pressing the molding of the fake wall with the toe of his shoe. Part of the wall popped out and he pulled it open just enough to slip past and close himself into the small area sectioned off behind it, feeling his way over to the table in the dark. It only occurred to him then to check that the wallet sized case Agasa had given him was still in his pocket, and he breathed out a little sigh when he found that it was. Opening it, he drew out a small pen light and clicked it on, holding it in between his teeth and pointing it down at the little case. Inside, set into neat rows of indentations, were extra anesthetic needles and a small screwdriver. He took off his watch and set to work reloading it.

KID came in while Shinichi was focused on the watch and went straight to the first aid kit, navigating by the faint glow from Shinichi's pen light. Inside the kit was a larger flashlight and he took it out, turning it on and setting it on the table to brighten the room. Shinichi glanced up, surprised since the extra light could give away the seams of the false wall now that the ship was dark, but then he saw the blood, fresh and stark against the white of KID's suit. His face looked pale, and Shinichi noted almost instantly the somewhat unnatural way his left arm hung at his side as he stood hunched and clutching at the edge of the table.

"KID... Are you okay?"

"…Yeah," KID answered, straightening a little.

Shinichi felt a familiar twisting in the pit of his stomach. "You… You're cov–"

"Snake's dead," KID said, cutting him off with no emotion. "Gin shot him."

"O-Oh–"

"Can you help me with my arm? I think my shoulder's dislocated."

Shinichi hesitated for just a moment, but he closed up the watch and put his tools away, slipping the case back into his pocket and moving close beside KID to carefully test the range of motion of his left arm.

"I already tried the gentle stuff, Tantei-kun," KID said immediately, and it was almost a groan. "Come on; let's get this done. Please."

This time, Shinichi didn't hesitate. He knew how much pain KID was in and he knew they still had a job to do. KID braced himself a little more firmly against the table and Shinichi set a steadying hand against his back, wondering just briefly what had happened to the glider cape but knowing better than to ask. He placed his other hand against the front of KID's injured shoulder. "Count of three?" he asked. KID just nodded, and Shinichi clenched his teeth, shoving hard on three to force the bone back into place.

KID folded forward over the table, his lips pinched together in a pale line and his eyes shut tight, the muscles in his neck standing out as he fought not to make a sound. After a few seconds he let out a harsh breath and managed to straighten up, turning to sit back against the edge of the table. Eyes still closed, he forced his breathing to come measured and slow.

Without a word, Shinichi moved to stand close against him and took off his hat, reaching around behind him to set it on the table and very carefully moving his fingers through KID's hair.

"I'm fine," KID insisted, but Shinichi had already found warm blood. He flinched back as soon as he felt it, not wanting to cause more pain, but KID hadn't reacted at all. Tentatively he touched it again, cringing at the swelling he could feel around the small abrasion, but still KID didn't react.

"You _can_ feel that, right?" Shinichi murmured.

"Yeah."

Shinichi bit back a frustrated groan and took a breath. "Okay," he said, trying to accept KID's way of doing things. "What's next."

"…Can you help me get my arm out of the jacket?" he asked. "It's broken. It'd be best to splint it, but–"

"But we don't want anyone to _know_ it's broken," Shinichi agreed.

Without further discussion, KID pulled out the two pieces from the broken glider and they maneuvered his arm out of his sleeve, binding both his upper arm and forearm with the metal rods and bandages from the first aid kit. And it was strange, but Shinichi slowly found himself sinking into what he suspected Kaito would call a poker face, shutting out the horror of seeing someone he loved in so much pain in favor of doing what needed to be done – of finishing what they had started. His eyes caught on the two bullet holes in KID's shirt as they eased the arm back through the jacket sleeve and he let out a quiet sigh.

"I'm glad we got the bulletproof vests," he murmured, going to the first aid kit again and picking out a few pain pills. He dropped them into KID's hand and KID swallowed them without question. Then he went back and grabbed some for himself. His head was still throbbing from the blow from Gin's gun but with any luck he could at least take the edge off.

"You weren't answering. Over the com, before," KID said, watching him. "What happened?"

"Gin. He knocked me out. I woke up on their getaway boat…"

He realized it as soon as he said it, and it seemed KID did as well in the same moment.

"…Why didn't he kill you?"

"I don't know… He could have shot me in the back, and even if he wanted to avoid giving away his position with the gunshot, Vodka could have drowned me. But he was tying me up instead.

"Honestly, when I woke up I thought… I thought he'd poisoned me again."

KID reached out and brushed gentle fingers against Shinichi's cheek. "I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to be in that kind of danger–"

Shinichi took his hand and brought it down between them, giving his fingers a reassuring squeeze. "I was the one who decided to go after them. Let's just finish this so we can get out of here."

KID nodded a little and Shinichi looked down at their hands. "You gonna be all right without gloves?" he asked.

"Heh, yeah, don't worry. This whole ship's going down. And if it doesn't, we have a lot worse to worry about than evidence of my identity."

Shinichi just nodded.

"Anyway," KID went on, taking his one good hand back from Shinichi's grasp to nudge Shinichi's blazer aside, revealing the gun still tucked into his waistband. "What's with this?"

"I took it off of Vodka. He's sleeping tied up in the getaway boat out in the bay somewhere."

"…And without Snake… that only leaves Gin as a witness," KID muttered, his voice a little distant with thought. He glanced up and met Shinichi's eyes. "And he's got the gem."

"…But no way off the ship," Shinichi said. "Not yet anyway. We're surrounded – I'm sure he can call for transportation."

"Then we'd better–"

" _KID. Kudou-kun."_

Shinichi immediately raised his wrist to answer. "We're here, Captain. What's up?"

" _There's a coded light signal coming from one of the boats. I think Phantom Lady's com must have been damaged when she swam out, but it looks like she's secured a boat."_

KID was quiet for a short time, fully engrossed in his thoughts, but eventually he pulled the cufflink from his pocket and answered, "Okay. If we're gonna do this, it needs to be now. New plan…"

.

" _We're both in position, Captain. Let us know as soon as you're clear."_

Shinichi tensed, waiting for Jii's confirmation as he watched Gin. As he had predicted, Gin was standing on the lower deck by the ladder that should have brought him down to his and Vodka's getaway boat. The new plan would begin just as soon as Jii was safely away from the ship, but the helicopters had made Jii's glider too risky, so KID had instructed him to leave it behind and lower himself to the water on the opposite side of the ship with his elasticity suspenders.

" _I'm at the water,"_ Jii's voice said through the earpiece. _"I'll probably lose contact, but I'm heading straight for Phantom Lady's boat. We'll stay starboard, near the back."_

" _All right. Go ahead, Captain."_

" _Good luck."_

There was a short buzz of static, then silence.

"… _Okay, Tantei-kun. Go."_

At KID's word, Shinichi stepped out onto the lower deck without the slightest hesitation. "Lose something?" he said coolly, walking up to Gin with his hands tucked casually into his pockets and his heart racing beneath the calm facade.

Gin turned from the railing to face him and pocketed his cell phone, but, though his hand paused over it for a moment, he did not draw his gun. Shinichi spread his arms.

"What, you're not gonna shoot me? Even after I knocked out your partner and got rid of your getaway boat?"

Gin laughed and Shinichi had to suppress a shiver at the sound. "I'm not going to shoot you, Kudou Shinichi. It doesn't take a famous detective to figure out that we don't want you dead anymore. In fact, it's your unusual knack for survival that's piqued our interest."

"Yeah?" Shinichi let his arms drop to his sides again. "What's so interesting about it?"

"That's what we're going to find out. And since you've trapped yourself on a ship surrounded by our boats, I don't think it will be too much trouble to catch you again."

Shinichi took a calculated step back and Gin was taken in by the motion. He started toward Shinichi, his intent obvious, but then he felt a slight tug at his coat. It made him pause – drew his eyes back over his shoulder. His hand went for his gun.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced," KID said, standing a few paces behind him, a dark stain across the white suit and the Pyrrha's Stone glowing in his hand.

"Kaitou KID," Gin said, turning to face him. He raised the gun.

"And you're Gin," KID replied. "Good. Now we're all acquainted. You might want to move." He pointed behind Gin and Gin made the mistake of looking, wary of the detective he'd turned his back on. Shinichi was running straight for him and Gin almost shot at him, just barely remembering not to in time to move out of the way instead. Shinichi just ran past him, following close at KID's heels as they both sprinted away from Gin toward the stairs up to the next deck.

Gin took off after them, but between the darkness on the ship and trying to keep up, he couldn't risk taking a shot at the thief. Not with Shinichi running between them. He almost managed it when they reached the very top deck and KID and Shinichi started up the ladder to the roof below the smokestack, but he hadn't considered _how_ KID had survived two bullets to the chest. His shot hit perfectly in the center of KID's back, but the thief only faltered slightly before making it the rest of the way onto the roof and out of sight, Shinichi just a moment behind. Gin climbed up after them.

"Nowhere left to go," he said, taking aim again, and Shinichi immediately shifted over, placing himself directly between Gin and KID. "So you _are_ working together," Gin commented, lips twisting into something like a smile. "You stole something from our organization once," he said to KID. "Information on the incomplete detective."

Shinichi saw KID shrug out of the corner of his eye and he let out a quiet, indignant little breath. It was a wholly unnecessary gesture and it must have hurt, but KID was devoted to the persona, to the illusion, to proving that he was always all right as he'd told Shinichi too often before. KID held the gem up a little higher from behind Shinichi. "And now I have this. What are you gonna do about it?"

"I think the two of you are underestimating me. Standing between us isn't going to save anyone, Kudou. And just because I want you alive doesn't mean I can't still shoot you to get you out of the way for a second while I take care of your friend."

"Oh~?" KID called. "That's not what I think. I think you've had plenty of chances to incapacitate Tantei-kun but you didn't take any of them. You don't just need him alive; you need him healthy. You want to find out why your drug didn't work on him, don't you."

Shinichi took another step back, moving closer to KID to cover him more completely and to bring them just a little closer to the edge of the roof. Part of him was glad to hear KID's assessment. It meant they had more options in terms of manipulating Gin's moves. But at the same time he couldn't quite shake the fear that clawed into him at the thought of being the Organization's lab rat.

Gin's smile turned sharper. "Like I said, you underestimate me. I don't have to shoot the detective to get to you."

"Try it," KID said, his voice suddenly humorless.

All three were still, the only sounds coming from the two helicopters circling the ship, and Gin didn't shoot. Shinichi swallowed a sigh of relief. It seemed they'd won their other gamble as well. Gin didn't want to chance shooting KID as long as KID was holding the Pyrrha's Stone. If he dropped it, or fell with it, it could fall into the bay and be lost.

It was now or never. Shinichi raised his watch.

"What are you doing?" Gin demanded, but Shinichi had already pressed the trigger and the needle found its mark. Gin staggered, just managing to keep to his feet, but his arm had fallen, the gun resting at his side. It was all he could do not to drop it.

"Take care of the gem!" Shinichi called to KID, and he ran at Gin, easily knocking him over and grabbing the gun out of his grip. Still kneeling over him, he pitched the gun over the staggered decks of the ship and into the bay.

Gin didn't bother fighting for the weapon. While Shinichi's focus was on that, he drew a small, capped syringe from a pocket in his coat and popped it open with a thumb, jabbing it into his own arm. When Shinichi looked down at Gin again and saw it, Gin used the moment of distraction to thrust the heel of his hand up, catching Shinichi under his chin, and Shinichi recoiled enough for Gin to throw him off from on top of him. The haze of sleep was entirely gone from his eyes as he regained his feet and ripped the syringe from his arm, tossing it away.

"Shit…" Shinichi scrambled to his feet as well and reached for Vodka's gun, still tucked into his waistband, but Gin was quicker, running at him before he could even disengage the safety and taking him down hard on the roof again. With his right hand he grabbed Shinichi's throat, pressing down to keep him pinned and sitting heavily on Shinichi's chest with his knees digging into Shinichi's arms. With his left hand, he grabbed the gun.

"Don't move," Gin ordered, raising it at KID.

KID was crouched beside the open bench where he'd just wedged the Pyrrha's Stone in among the explosives. He raised his hands, carefully hiding the pain of the motion. "You've done your research," he commented. "You don't go up against Kaitou KID without something to counter sleep gas. Tantei-kun was characteristically unlucky." His eyes flickered down to Shinichi, still in Gin's grip and hardly able to struggle, but still, at least, able to breathe.

"Move away from there."

KID considered Gin for a few quiet moments then reached into the bench again to pick up the Pyrrha's Stone, holding it up as he took a few easy steps away from the bomb and toward the edge of the roof again. "How 'bout a trade," he offered. "The jewel for the detective."

Shinichi made a strangled sort of sound and Gin pressed a little harder on his neck in warning without ever looking away from KID. "Really… Snake made it sound like you'd stop at nothing to get your hands on that gem. You'd really hand it over for _him_?"

"I won't trample other people to get what I want, unlike a certain organization I know," KID said lightly and Gin laughed.

"The stone… _and_ the detonator," he said. KID just shrugged, and a small remote with one switch appeared in the same hand as the Pyrrha's Stone.

"Deal. But we have a problem, because you don't trust me and I don't trust you. So I'm gonna need you to put the gun down, and I'll do the same."

KID transferred the gem and remote to his left hand, hoping it looked reasonably natural, and took out the card gun. Meeting Gin's eyes, he slowly lowered it to the roof and Gin did the same, matching movement for movement as they both wordlessly slid the weapons away from themselves and out of reach. KID stood and Gin shifted on top of Shinichi, shoving him over and taking the handcuffs from Shinichi's belt to lock his hands behind his back. Then he pulled him to his feet to face KID.

"Fair's fair," Gin said with a sharp smile. "We gonna do this exchange or not?"

KID's jaw clenched and he started slowly forward, away from the safety of the roof's edge. For each step he took, Gin and Shinichi took one as well until they were all standing in the center of the roof beside the storage bench and bomb.

Shinichi was the one to see the first sign of the betrayal they all knew was coming – Gin just starting to reach for something under his coat. "KID, now!" he shouted, and he jerked himself free of Gin's grasp and swung the open handcuffs still hanging from one wrist into Gin's face, leaving a gash below one of his eyes. Gin recoiled, caught off guard, and Shinichi beat him to the third gun Gin had hidden under his coat – the gun Snake had been holding when he'd fallen from the roof. He grabbed it and threw it over the side just as KID was straightening from beside the bench, the Pyrrha's Stone a vibrant, glowing red, tucked in amongst the explosives.

Gin could hardly follow what happened next. Shinichi was shoving him toward the edge of the roof, KID was running at them, and then all three were tangled together in a jumble as they fell and an earsplitting blast tore through the night, a fiery orange explosion erupting above them.

Something suddenly halted their freefall and the group swung, colliding with the wall beneath the roof hard enough that KID's hat was knocked free and Shinichi lost his grip on Gin. Gin fell to the deck not far below them with a groan drowned out by another explosion somewhere close by inside the ship.

Shinichi was straining to keep hold of the grappling hook gun, dangling from it by both hands now. KID's one good arm was tense where it was hooked over Shinichi's shoulder, the detonator still in his hand, but the bombs he'd planted down through the ship were setting each other off now so he dropped it to dig his fingers into the back of Shinichi's blazer.

Shinichi lowered them the rest of the way to the deck and released the hook, the sturdy cable retracting without too much damage from the destruction above. They ran right past Gin who was struggling to his feet and hooked the gun up to the rail at the edge of the deck. Then both of them jumped over together, hitting the wall below again and lowering to the last deck where the floor was still stained with blood from Snake's and KID's earlier fall. Jii's elasticity suspenders were still hanging there and Shinichi abandoned the grappling hook gun and reached over to press the button, snapping them back up and helping KID over the rail before climbing over himself and lowering them both to the water.

The entire ship was shaking the with force of the explosions, chaining one after another down through it, and Gin ran for the stairs around the other side of the deck from where Shinichi and KID had jumped. He made it down to the lowest deck on the opposite side and started down the ladder Vodka had set up earlier, but was forced to jump from it as the ship rocked and turned, taking on water. The smaller boats were scattering, moving away from the explosions and the churning waves around the sinking ship, but Gin swam after them, making it to the nearest one before the sucking current around the _Queen Selizabeth_ could grab hold of him.

It was almost completely dark in the water, moonlight and the erratic circling of the helicopters' spotlights the only relief, but it didn't seem to deter KID. He was clinging to Shinichi as they fought through the tossing waves, murmuring directions to guide him toward the boat where Phantom Lady and Jii were waiting. When they reached it, Phantom Lady leaned over the side, reaching down to help KID up. Once he was safely onboard, she reached down for Shinichi as well, but the light from one of the helicopters passed over them at that moment then doubled back, spotlighting their boat, and the other boats all roared to life around them.

"Shit," Shinichi groaned, scrambling over the edge and falling into the boat as Jii suddenly sped forward, driving their boat narrowly between two others that were converging on them.

Phantom Lady grabbed Shinichi's arm and a moment later the cuffs still hanging from his wrist fell open and clunked against the floor of the boat. He started to straighten up then, but she pushed him back down with a firm hand on his head and he heard a gunshot go off.

"Gin must have contacted them and told them what happened," he shouted over the engines and waves. "They're not gonna let up!"

"It's okay, Tantei-kun," KID said, keeping low as he moved toward Jii. "We're gonna ditch the boat and make our escape. Just do as I say." He grabbed a gun from one of the two unconscious men in black lying asleep on the floor of the boat and tossed it over to Shinichi. "Cover us. Make sure they don't shoot out our engine. Phantom Lady, I need help."

Shinichi didn't question it. He had the gun in his hand less than three seconds before the spotlight above them was shattered with a well-placed bullet, and the second spotlight followed soon after – the moment the other helicopter came into range.

"Heh, he really is as good as you say," Phantom Lady commented as she helped KID remove the panel beneath the boat's controls.

"Of course," KID replied. "Here – I want this thing to keep running even if nobody's driving it. These wires should do it…"

Shinichi was getting the distinct feeling that the Organization boats had received orders from Gin not to kill anyone on the hijacked boat, and was just as sure that, gradually, the Organization boats were conveniently forgetting those orders. At first they'd only aimed for the boat itself, but as Shinichi systematically took out their engines and Jii left each one behind, the shots of the pursuing boats became more reckless.

"I hope you're almost done over there," Shinichi shouted back at KID and Phantom Lady as he dropped his empty gun and ducked down to check the other unconscious man for another.

"Yeah, that should do it," KID answered, shouting over the gunfire. "Captain, let's go. Tantei-kun, time to abandon ship. Come on."

"You guys first," Shinichi answered. He'd found the other gun and took out the closest boat with two shots. "I'll cover you."

KID looked like he was about to protest, but he was distracted by the sound of tearing fabric and a tug at his injured arm. Phantom Lady was kneeling beside him, a knife in her hand as she cut through the soaked white jacket of the KID uniform. "What–?"

"Too visible," she said shortly, dropping the ruined jacket to the floor of the boat. "Stick close to me, got it? We're going over together. Captain, you follow. Kudou, you better be right behind, and make it convincing."

Shinichi glanced back in confusion for a moment, but then he smirked and nodded. "Let me borrow that knife real quick." He ducked down again and took the knife Phantom Lady offered, using it to cut a piece of fabric from the black shirt one of the sleeping Organization members was wearing. Then he turned back to the few boats still following after them and timed a few of his shots to distract the nearest of them while Phantom Lady dragged KID over the side and into the water, Jii not far behind. Another round of shots followed and Shinichi ducked down again, waiting for it to ease.

"Okay," he muttered, wrapping the piece of black fabric carefully around his gun. He had one bullet left – enough to put on a good show. He stood up at the back of the boat, pretending to aim at one of the few boats still chasing them – the one where he could see Gin's silver hair under the moonlight. He stood still for a second as if in concentration, then made a deliberate show of acting surprised and alarmed as he drew the gun back and looked down at it. Then he fired it down into the water, the black fabric hiding the spark of the shot, and dropped the weapon. His hand moved to his chest and he pretended to lose his balance, falling from the boat and hitting the water hard as it continued to speed off without its hijackers.

 _Gin is gonna be pissed. That's twice now I've faked my death to fool him,_ he thought with some satisfaction as he kicked down, away from the surface and off to the side, out of the path of the pursuing boats. They passed by, oblivious, and he surfaced, glancing around. He could just make out Jii swimming toward him.

"This way, Kudou-kun," he said, and they both started for the docks in the distance.

.

Both Shinichi and Jii knew immediately that something was wrong when they caught up with Phantom Lady and KID in the water just below one of the raised wooden docks a good distance down from where the _Queen Selizabeth_ had shoved off.

"Help me with him," Phantom Lady said the moment they were in earshot. She seemed to be holding KID's head up to keep his mouth and nose above the surface because KID, for the most part, seemed unable to do so himself. His eyes were closed, though his expression seemed to be shifting back and forth between pained effort and what might have been unconsciousness. Shinichi tried to ignore the cold jolt of fear as he grabbed onto the deck above them and hauled himself out of the water faster than he thought he was capable of. Then he reached down and grabbed onto KID, dragging him up onto the dock as carefully as he could.

"Hey, KID," Shinichi panted, leaning over the thief. His fingers fumbled with the wet tie and the buttons of KID's shirt, pulling it open to get to the straps of the bullet proof vest underneath and loosen them.

"His breathing seems fine," Phantom Lady said, suddenly kneeling at KID's other side. She passed a gloveless hand over his face, pausing over his forehead before smoothing his wet hair back. The monocle, it seemed, was long gone. "He fell, right? How bad?"

Shinichi shook his head. "I'm not sure, but he seemed fine. Well not– You know what I mean." He was vaguely aware of Jii circling around them, checking the surrounding area for people. Shinichi kept his focus on KID. He turned on the flashlight in his watch and moved it slowly over KID's body until he noticed a tear through the leg of the white pants, and that the gleam of the puddle KID was lying in looked darker than it should right beneath it. He yanked off the watch and grabbed the strap between his teeth to free both hands and still have light as he ripped the fabric further, revealing torn flesh a little above KID's knee.

"This…" he mumbled around the watch. "When–?"

"It had to have been right after we abandoned the boat," Phantom Lady answered. "They were shooting at us – I felt a bullet hit my vest, but I didn't realize…"

Shinichi had already stuffed the watch into his pocket and was pushing down hard on the wound with both hands. KID groaned, the sound almost too soft to hear. "You awake, KID?" Shinichi asked, but he didn't wait for an answer. "We need something to tie this off with. He's lost a lot of blood already."

Phantom Lady didn't miss a beat. Almost too quick to see, she undid KID's belt and slipped it off then pushed it under his leg, tightening it around his thigh with as much strength as she could manage. "Captain, go get his clothes; we're not too far. We need to be quick here." Jii was gone a moment later and Phantom Lady took out another small knife, working the tip through the belt to make a new hole and setting it in place with the buckle. The moment her hands were free, she cut through the bandages binding the glider pieces to KID's left arm, removed KID's earpiece, and tossed it all into the bay. Then she pushed Shinichi's hands away from where he was still applying pressure to KID's leg, replacing them with her own. "Kudou, you need to get back in the water and swim over to where the ship was docked. As far as anyone needs to know, you swam back alone after the ship went down, you got it?"

"But–"

"Listen to me," Phantom Lady said, sharp and low. "This place was under attack when I left. It's quiet now, but I don't know what the situation is. If the police have it handled, that's fine, but if they don't it might not be safe to call an ambulance – it could draw Organization members right to us. You're with the police – you can find out."

"…I'll get some officers over here," Shinichi said, removing his own damaged earpiece.

Phantom Lady just nodded. "Go."

.

The port seemed eerily empty when Shinichi swam around to where the _Queen Selizabeth_ had been docked and dragged himself up out of the water again. He nearly fell back in when someone suddenly shouted his name.

"Kudou-kun, you're alive!" Takagi called, waving his arm above his head to get Shinichi's attention as he ran toward him from seemingly out of nowhere. "What happened?"

"Um… KID blew up the ship," Shinichi answered distractedly, pushing his dripping bangs away from his eyes. "What happened here? Where is everyone?"

Takagi suddenly shifted closer, looking around as he leaned in to whisper behind his hand, "It was that crime syndicate you warned us about. We had to evacuate the area to protect the civilians, but there were so many injuries and arrests that there aren't many officers left around here either."

A nervous pang of guilt pressed through Shinichi but he tried to ignore it. There wasn't time. "Are there any officers farther down that way?" he asked, pointing. "I could swear I saw some people over there when I was swimming back. We should probably go check it out."

.

From a distance, as they were running up, all Shinichi and Takagi could make out was someone in black with white bandages around the top half of their head crouched over another figure lying on the dock.

"Hey!" Takagi called out, his hand already over his gun. "Who are you? What are you doing over here?"

"That's Kaito!" Shinichi said as they got closer, and Takagi drew the gun.

"Get away from him!" he said, stopping a few feet short of the masked figure.

"Stop!" Shinichi put his hand over the weapon and forced it down. "That's Phantom Lady. She's one of KID's accomplices; she wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Eh?" Takagi blinked in confusion as Shinichi ran right up to them.

"What happened?" Shinichi asked.

"You know him?" Phantom Lady said, her voice a higher, lighter sound than what Shinichi was used to, with just a slight French accent. "I saw him in the water and pulled him out." She cast a brief glance over her shoulder. "Oh well. You have the cops here. This doesn't have anything to do with me." She stood and Shinichi shivered a little at the muted gleam of the blood on her hands in the moonlight, but the next moment she was gone. He rushed to take her place at Kaito's side, pressing down on the wound in his leg. Phantom Lady and Jii had managed to get him back into his civilian clothes (and drenched him in water from the bay again), and there was a tear through his jeans to mimic the damage the bullet would have caused if he'd been wearing them when he'd actually been shot. The belt around his thigh had also been replaced with the one that had been on his jeans. _They're thorough…_ he thought in relief.

"Takagi-keiji," Shinichi called back, but he didn't have to say any more. Takagi had put his gun away and pulled out his cell phone, already calling an ambulance. Shinichi returned his focus to Kaito instead. "Hey, Kaito," he said, struggling to keep his voice soft and calm – hoping it would stir something in Kaito's mind, to let him know the danger was over. "Can you hear me? It's Shinichi. The ambulance is coming; just hold on a little longer, okay?"

Takagi hung up and came to kneel at his side as well. "So that woman… was with KID?" he asked, eyeing the belt around Kaito's leg.

"You know KID's rule," Shinichi muttered. "No one… is _supposed_ to get hurt." He let himself sound as bitter as he felt. Given the circumstances, he didn't think that would be suspicious in the least.

"But… why Kuroba-kun? Who did this?"

"The Black Organization, probably. Whether they mistook him for me or knew exactly what they were doing going after him… Or maybe it was just bad luck. You said there were a lot of injuries."

He could hear the hollow echo of approaching sirens through the pier and let out a sigh of relief. _I don't know how the Kurobas and Jii-san keep this up so easily. Kaito… Don't think I'll let you get away with putting me through this. You're gonna be fine, you got it?_

Takagi stood and ran toward the sound, waving the ambulance over the moment it was in view. The headlights washed over the area as it turned and headed toward them and Shinichi's heart jumped as he glanced back over his shoulder, catching a familiar shape pointing out from the shadows.

"Takagi-keiji, get down!" he shouted.

"Huh?" Takagi, jogging after the ambulance, looked back, but it was too dark to see the shooter now that the headlights were pointed out toward the bay. The silenced gun went off and Takagi let out a shout as he hit the ground. He didn't get back up.

"Takagi-keiji!"

The ambulance had pulled up near Shinichi and Kaito and already the EMTs were unloading a stretcher.

"There's someone with a gun; get him and get inside the ambulance! Hurry!" Shinichi shouted, already on his feet. He didn't stop to see that they listened to him. He ran for Takagi instead and dove to his knees, grabbing Takagi's arm and pulling it over his shoulders to haul him up, half dragging him over toward the ambulance. He was relieved to find that Takagi was still conscious and even trying to take his own weight, though he couldn't quiet manage it with Shinichi pulling him along so quickly.

"Take him, too," Shinichi said, coming up to the back of the ambulance just as they'd loaded Kaito's stretcher. "He's been shot."

"Kudou-kun," Takagi groaned as the EMTs helped him inside. "G-Get in. The shooter–"

"I know," Shinichi said. He reached up and grabbed the gun from under Takagi's suit jacket before he was out of reach, quickly checking the bullet count and clicking off the safety. "She's still here. You guys aren't her targets though; she just needed you out of the way. If I get in this ambulance she'll shoot out the tires and Kaito won't stand a chance. He's running out of time. Same for you, so get going." He slammed the doors on Takagi's protests and shouted at the driver, "Go, now!"

The ambulance took off with a scream of sirens and Shinichi stood still, the gun held carefully in both hands with his finger on the trigger but the barrel pointed to the ground. He could hardly see in the sudden absence of the ambulance's light and the sirens were still ringing in his ears, but he could smell a faint hint of peach and mint and cigarette smoke on the breeze.

"Come out, Merlot," he said. "I know you're there."

The figure that stepped out from its shadowed cover and into the moonlight on the open stretch of pier was _not_ Merlot. It was a large man standing six feet tall at least, and he had a dazed Phantom Lady held against his chest with one strong arm, a gun in his other hand pressed to the side of her head. Then Merlot stepped out beside him.

"You know what we want, Kudou," she said, pushing a hand through her hair. "And it isn't _her._ I've got no problem letting her live. She's not the type to go running to the police, and even if she did it wouldn't matter. I'll leave her behind without further harm. All you have to do is give yourself up."

 _Where is Jii-san? They should have been together,_ Shinichi thought, glancing around without moving. _If they caught him, they'd use him, so he must have gotten away. If he went to send backup the best thing I can do now is buy time._

"Geez, you guys are persistent," Shinichi sighed. "You want to find out about the Apoptoxin so badly you'd storm a heist full of cops?"

"Don't be arrogant," Merlot scoffed. "You were little more than an afterthought. But now that the jewel is gone, we need to bring something good back. It won't end well for us if we return empty-handed."

"Something good, huh?" Shinichi smirked. "I'm flattered." _She's been in contact with Gin if she already knows about the jewel. That's good news for our plan at least. And then she must have heard Takagi-keiji call out to me on the docks. So much for that fake death; that one sure didn't last long._

"Put down the gun, Kudou," Merlot said, and it was almost a sigh. "I'm short on time and patience right now. If you don't give yourself up, I'll kill the woman and chase you down. I'd prefer you unhurt, but we can patch you up if we have to." She cocked her gun and reached up to push the tip of the silencer under Phantom Lady's chin. "The situation has turned somewhat desperate, after all."

 _That's not a bluff,_ Shinichi thought, watching numbly as Phantom Lady grabbed at the arm that had her pinned, clawing ineffectually with gloved fingertips. _Merlot's life is on the line here; Gin won't allow any more screw-ups. She's serious._ "Okay. I'm putting it down." He reengaged the safety on Takagi's gun and crouched slowly, placing it on the dock and standing again with his hands raised. "Let her go. She's got nothing to do with this."

"Well we all know _that's_ not true," Merlot laughed. "She's KID's accomplice, isn't she?" Shinichi didn't answer, his whole body tense and his eyes shifting between Merlot and Phantom Lady. "But it's fine." Merlot nodded to the man and he drew his own gun back only to bring it down hard against Phantom Lady's head. She dropped to the ground, unmoving, and he stepped over her without a second glance, starting toward Shinichi.

"Search him," Merlot said, staying back beside Phantom Lady, her gun pointed down at her to keep Shinichi from resisting. Shinichi didn't move, allowing the man to paw through the pockets of his wet clothes.

"Hey," he called back to Merlot almost immediately. "He's wearing a bulletproof vest."

Merlot just laughed. "Is that so? It's fine; we need him alive after all. Let him keep it. Just make sure there's nothing else on him."

The man obeyed and Shinichi stood patiently as he removed the watch and the small case with the spare anesthetic needles, then pushed his untucked shirt aside to eye the soccer ball belt. "What the hell is this?" he asked. Shinichi just shrugged.

"Take it from him," Merlot ordered. "Just toss it all in the water."

The watch, case, and belt all went over the edge of the dock with a small splash, but the man tucked Takagi's gun away for himself before moving behind Shinichi. He grabbed his wrists, holding tight to pin his arms up behind his back as Merlot pulled out her phone. She had only just dialed when a distant gunshot went off and she let out a startled cry, dropping both her gun and her phone as a bullet cut across her left hand. "What the hell–?"

"Everybody, hands in the air, now!" a familiar voice bellowed and Nakamori ran out onto the pier, his gun raised and ready. Shinichi felt himself jerked back a few steps toward the water's edge, but that was the only movement. No one obeyed the command.

"Hands up or get shot," a calmer voice reiterated and Sato ran up opposite Nakamori, her gun also raised in warning.

Surrounded and now unarmed, Merlot raised her hands, one of them dripping blood down past the cuff of her sleeve, but the man holding Shinichi just dragged him back farther. Everyone was still for a moment, then he suddenly released one of Shinichi's wrists to pull his own gun again, and the barrel thudded solidly against the side of Shinichi's head, drawing out a wince as it struck the tender spot Gin had made there earlier. "Everybody back off!" the man called. "I'll kill him!"

"You idiot–!" Merlot shouted, but he yelled back, "Fuck off, Merlot! I'm doin' this my way. All I want is to get out of here." He looked to Sato. "Get me a boat. That's it, that's all I want. You can have this punk, just get me a boat–"

He cut off abruptly and Shinichi staggered forward a little, surprised to find his other arm suddenly free. He turned just in time to see the blank expression on the man's face and the bloody hole through his temple before he fell backward off of the dock and into the bay.

"Fool," Merlot muttered. She took a shaky step back, no longer bothering to keep her hands raised, edging away from the water and open space of the dock.

"Hey–" Sato started but she cut herself off when Shinichi sprinted past, grabbing Merlot's arm even as she turned to run. He saw her injured hand reach under her blazer almost purely on reflex, but her gun wasn't there and she couldn't pull out of Shinichi's grip.

"Stop it," he demanded. "You wanna die? Just stay close to me; he won't shoot."

Merlot stopped struggling, staring up at him with shock-wide eyes, and she didn't even resist when Sato came up beside them and cuffed Merlot's wrists together in front of her so that she could keep her bleeding hand elevated.

"Nakamori-keibu," Shinichi called, stopping the inspector mid-step. "Don't go over there. That guy is dead. You need to stay by my side. You too, Sato-keiji."

"Kudou-kun, what is going on here?" Nakamori demanded, but he had turned back, coming over to stand with Shinichi, Sato, and Merlot.

"The shooter wants me alive," Shinichi said shortly. "But he's good. We need to get out of here before he decides to risk it."

Sato nodded without hesitation. "Let's go– Wait, where's that woman who was lying here?"

Shinichi hesitated. "…Who told you two that we were over here?" he asked.

"Some guy in all black," Nakamori answered. "He was soaking wet and had his head and face covered. Said an officer had been shot."

"Takagi-keiji," Shinichi supplied without thinking, and, at Sato's alarmed question, added quickly, "There was an ambulance here; they took him right after it happened. He should be okay." _And I'm sure Jii-san would have followed Sato-keiji and Nakamori-keibu back here and gotten Chikage-san out while everyone was distracted._ "Don't worry about that woman. She and the guy you saw are KID's accomplices; they can take care of themselves. Let's just get out of here."

.

Some backup had arrived at the docks by the time Shinichi, Sato, and Nakamori had regrouped with Shiratori and the few other officers still gathered near the patrol cars, Merlot in tow. Sato pushed Merlot into the back of one of the cars, but paused when Shinichi got in as well.

"You're going to the hospital right?" he said, glancing at Merlot's bleeding hand. "I'm coming too." He didn't mention the slight concern he had that the car would be blown up or something on the way if he wasn't in it. Merlot still seemed nervous, and there had been no reports of anyone bringing in a man with long silver hair, so Gin was still out there somewhere. Sato didn't question it though. She and Nakamori got in the front and they headed out, Merlot casting quick glances at Shinichi the entire way there.

When they arrived, Sato excused herself, leaving Nakamori to get Merlot taken care of. Shinichi glanced around while the inspector was speaking to a doctor about the situation, wondering where he should start to try to find out if Kaito was there somewhere.

"The few times we've spoken up 'til now," Merlot murmured to him, watching him with sharp eyes. "You've basically been at my mercy, and you never batted an eye. Now you're nervous. Why."

Shinichi glared down at her. "Kaito's hurt thanks to your _organization_ , and I don't even know where he is now, let alone if he's okay," he replied.

"Kaito. That man… He's the Kaitou KID, isn't he. It's an interesting relationship the two of you have. Thief and detective… and maybe more?" she suggested.

"He told me what happened that night," Shinichi said, ignoring her comments. "What you said about Gin. We can protect you, Merlot."

"You can't protect everyone," she insisted. "You'll die trying."

"You're probably right."

Merlot stared up at him, but Shinichi refused to look at her, still glancing around at the nurses and doctors rushing about the place. If he had to guess, they had their hands full with the injuries brought in from the docks. _Kaito's got to be here somewhere…_

"…Well?" Merlot said, and Shinichi finally looked at her again. "Go on. Don't you need to go find Kaito?"

He bristled a little at the familiar use of Kaito's name, but he knew it was the only thing Merlot knew him by, so he let himself be distracted by the way Merlot had seemed to shrink slightly, holding her arms in close, still squeezing her bleeding hand with her eyes on the floor. Shinichi's hand went to his head, moving through his damp hair and unintentionally aggravating his injury again.

"Tch. Honestly," he muttered. He looked down at Merlot. "How would _you_ handle this hit if it was your assignment?" he asked.

"…What?" Merlot said, looking up at him again and forgetting her insecurity a little in her surprise at the random question.

"Would you choose to shoot at police or in a crowded hospital?" Shinichi went on. "You said yourself he could take you out quietly after you're in jail, _if_ he decides it's necessary. So? What do you think? Have you personally done anything bad enough for the Organization to be worth Gin's time and effort at this point? If he faults you for not capturing me he'd be signing his own death warrant too, right? He lost me _and_ the jewel. He's got other things to worry about now, don't you think?"

"I–" Merlot stammered. "You– _What_?"

"I'll let Nakamori-keibu know you could be a target anyway though," Shinichi added. "He'll take care of you, so don't make trouble for him, and don't give up. You're not dead yet."

"Why… the hell would you–? Are you still trying to _help_ me?" Merlot demanded, rounding on Shinichi with an angry glare.

"Hey," Nakamori warned, coming up beside them again.

"It's fine, Nakamori-keibu," Shinichi said. Then to Merlot he asked, "Why didn't you take the kill shot on Takagi-keiji?"

Merlot opened her mouth but she didn't have an answer. Nakamori cast a confused glance between the two before Shinichi moved away.

"I've gotta go, Inspector. Could you please arrange for her to be put under protection? She's part of the Black Organization, but they might put a hit out on her."

"What? Kudou-kun, wait. What's going on?" Nakamori asked, but Shinichi was already running off.

"I'm sorry, Nakamori-keibu, I have to go. I'll put in a report later, I promise!"

.

It was pushing 3AM by the time Shinichi managed to get news of Kaito. He'd run into Sato, who'd been having similar problems tracking down Takagi in the midst of the chaos of the overfilled hospital. She'd eventually found out that Takagi was still in surgery, and shortly after had overheard a nurse being sent to help with a young man with injuries fitting what Shinichi had described to her earlier. He hadn't been able to go in to see him, but Sato was able to confirm for him that Kaito's condition had been stabilized and that his life was no longer in danger. Jii had come by to fill Shinichi in on Chikage's condition and bring him his phone, asking that he keep in touch with any information about Kaito while Jii was taking care of the post-heist loose ends and keeping an eye on Chikage.

A few hours later, as things calmed down, Shinichi had finally been allowed into Kaito's room, and it wasn't long before Kaito woke, groggy and confused from the pain medication. Even so, he took one look at Shinichi smiling tiredly from the chair beside the bed, his clothes and hair stiff with dried salt water, and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Honestly, sitting up all night in here. How stupid. You look like hell," he said with a faint smirk.

Something in Shinichi's smile brightened, and his posture relaxed some. "Well, I wasn't about to miss seeing you laid up like this," he answered with warm amusement. "I missed it the last time, remember?"

"Heh, yeah. I'm just glad you're not laid up right next to me." He reached out with his good arm but he could barely move other than that, lacking the energy and coordination between the head injury, leg injury, cracked ribs, and heavy cast covering his entire left arm from hand to shoulder. Shinichi quickly shifted closer, within reach, and Kaito pressed a cold hand to Shinichi's forehead, fingers trailing through his bangs and down the side of his face. Shinichi could tell from his frown that Kaito hadn't missed the slight fever Shinichi had acquired during the long night.

"What, you think I'd make a bad roommate?" Shinichi accused with a smirk, catching Kaito's hand and holding it gently, his eyes darting over the IV in Kaito's arm.

"Tch. The worst," Kaito scoffed, allowing the distraction. "Rambling on all night about Arthur Conan Doyle–"

"Shut up," Shinichi laughed, but he faltered a little when Kaito's eyes closed. He was still smiling, but his grip on Shinichi's hand had tightened a little and there was something off in his expression. It took Shinichi a moment to recognize it as worry. He squeezed his fingers in understanding. "Ask," he said, and Kaito's eyes opened again, finding Shinichi's and taking in the open comfort they offered. "Who do you want to hear about first?"

"Kaa-san," he murmured. "And Jii-chan."

"They're both fine. Jii-san made it out without any injuries. Chikage-san… She and I had a small run-in with Merlot after the ambulance took you. Everything's fine," he repeated quickly. The grip Kaito had on Shinichi's hand was just short of painful now, but Shinichi held on just as tight and kept talking, confident and calm. "Do you know the name Mirla Romain?" He took the panicked flicker of Kaito's eyes as a "yes" and couldn't help but laugh a little at his own foolishness. Of course Kaito would know Chikage's friend and confidant from her days as Phantom Lady – a doctor living on the outskirts of Paris who still welcomed Chikage into her home any time she was in the country. "Jii-san called her, just to be safe," Shinichi said. "She spoke with Chikage-san and with Jii-san and said that Chikage-san's injuries didn't seem serious, but she's coming to Tokyo as soon as she can, just to be sure."

"And? What kind of injuries are we talking about here?" Kaito asked, but Shinichi could tell he seemed much less anxious now.

"I'm not sure, exactly," Shinichi said. "Merlot shot Takagi-keiji right after the ambulance arrived and Jii-san immediately left to get help while Chikage-san went after the shooter, but Merlot had two guys with her. Chikage-san took out one but the other got the better of her."

"Takagi-keiji–" Kaito said.

"He's okay. Got out of surgery a little while ago."

"…What about the task force? And all the other officers?"

Shinichi let out a quiet sigh. "I heard Megure-keibu, Chiba-keiji, and a lot of others have been hospitalized, but nothing too serious. Shiratori-keibu's been trying to hold Division One together in the meantime." He smirked then and added, "Division Two is helping out a lot. They hardly had any injuries. You trained them well."

The smile that came to Kaito's face then seemed much more real. "…And?" he asked after a little while, and Shinichi's eyebrows pulled down in confusion.

"And what? Who did I miss? Ran and Sonoko are fine – everybody was evacuated off of the docks not long after we stole the ship. They actually dropped by a few hours ago, before we were allowed in to see you."

"That's good," Kaito said. "But what about _you_ , Shinichi?"

"What _about_ me?" Shinichi asked. "I'm fine. The Organization was still trying to keep me alive so they didn't do anything to me."

Kaito let out a longsuffering sigh. "You've been sitting in a hospital all night with nothing better to do, but you didn't even bother to have someone check you for a concussion or anything at all, did you."

Shinichi's hand went automatically to the side of his head where Gin had struck him with his gun and knocked him out. "Uh… Well, no," he admitted.

Kaito rolled his eyes, but he was smiling again. "Please, Shinichi. I promise; I'm not going anywhere. Could you just do me this favor and see if you can get a doctor to look at you too? And go get some sleep. I wasn't kidding; you really do look awful."

"Thanks," Shinichi said with a quirked smile. "…Do you want me to call Jii-san or anybody to come–?"

"No, just–" His fingers twitched a little around Shinichi's. "I could use a little time alone… after everything."

Shinichi froze for a moment, realization shooting through him, cold and quick. He'd had hours for what they'd done that night to really sink in, but Kaito… Kaito's mission – the cause he'd devoted himself to for the past five years – had literally changed overnight. His father's murderer was dead and the Organization's hunt for Pandora was off, and Kaito hadn't had any time at all to really process any of it.

Shinichi nodded as he stood. "Yeah, Kaito," he said. "Of course." He leaned over him, pressing a gentle kiss to Kaito's forehead, and left his phone on the table beside the bed. "I promise, I'll get myself checked out then stop home and bring back your phone. How's that?"

"Get some rest," Kaito insisted.

"Okay, that too," Shinichi agreed. "I'll be back soon."

.

"Kaito-oniichan!"

Kaito opened his eyes to the glow of low evening sun around the blinds and sat up a little as Ayumi ran into the hospital room and right up to the side of the bed, staring up at Kaito with wide eyes. "Kaito-oniichan, are you okay?"

"Hey Ayumi-chan," he answered with a bright smile. "I'm all right; don't worry."

Mitsuhiko and Genta weren't too far behind, hurrying in after her, and Kaito's smile softened at the sight of the small cluster of paper-wrapped, multicolor roses Mitsuhiko was clutching in both hands. "Hey you guys," Kaito said. "What's up?"

The boys didn't have a chance to answer him. Ayumi was looking formidable with her hands on her hips and her face set for a scolding, reminding Kaito of a ten-year-old Aoko. "Kaito-oniichan, why did you let a bunch of bad guys get to you?" she demanded.

"That's right!" Mitsuhiko joined in, and that was when Kaito knew he was in trouble. "You should have used your magic to escape, like Kaitou KID!"

"Hey now," Kaito laughed. His good hand went to the back of his head, sheepish, but he flinched slightly when his fingers encountered the bandages there. "I'm not quite at KID's level as far as escapes go," he said, apologetic.

"You gotta at least tell us what happened," Genta insisted. "It was all over the news, but nobody knows what was really going on!"

All three were staring expectantly at him but Kaito just shook his head. "Sorry you guys but I don't know either. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just some bad luck, that's all."

"But that's not true!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed, just barely keeping his voice to a reasonable level for a hospital.

"Right, right!" Ayumi agreed. "We heard Nakamori-keibu talking to Takagi-keiji when we went to visit him! Takagi-keiji said the bad guys were after Shinichi-oniisan and that they probably targeted you to get to him!"

Kaito cringed a little. _Well… We_ did _plan on that coming up…_ he thought with some resignation. It wasn't a theory he wanted to discourage, but he didn't want the kids to worry either. He was about to respond when a voice from the hall stopped him.

"Well, it sure is lively in here," Shinichi said, stepping into the room.

"Shinichi-san!"

"Shinichi-oniisan, you're alive!"

"We thought you got blown up!"

"Hey, _I_ didn't!" Mitsuhiko said.

"Huh? What are you guys talking about?" Shinichi asked, coming up beside the bed with them.

"On the news!" Ayumi answered. "They said the only people confirmed to be on the ship that blew up were you and Kaitou KID, cause the captain was with all the people who got evacuated from the pier and no one else was allowed onboard!"

"Oh, right," Shinichi said, laughing a little. "Well, KID and I _were_ on the ship, but we both escaped. I don't know where he went after that, but I know he made it out okay."

All three kids let out simultaneous sighs.

"You shouldn't scare us like that, Shinichi-oniisan," Ayumi scolded. "It's not very nice."

"Heh, sorry. Anyway, what's with the flowers?" Shinichi asked, smirking a little.

"Oh! I forgot!" Mitsuhiko held up the roses to Kaito. "Ran-san and Sonoko-san went to get something to put them in. There's one from each of us."

"And look!" Ayumi added, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a playing card and showed it to Kaito. "I've been holding on to it ever since we heard that you and Shinichi-oniisan had gotten into trouble again," she said.

' _Again' huh?_ Shinichi and Kaito both thought, resigned.

"It's my good luck charm!"

"What is it?" Shinichi asked, leaning over to get a better look. Ayumi handed him the card.

"Kaito-oniichan gave this to us the first time we met. It's got all our names on it," she explained.

"Hm?" Shinichi glanced over the front of the card, spotting his own name as well as Kaito's, Conan's, and Haibara's all spiraled together with the names of the kids. He turned it around and was not surprised to see the KID doodle on the back as well. He handed it back to her with a smile as a familiar voice called just outside the room, "See, I told you I knew where I was going, Ran!" Then Sonoko strolled through the door. "We're here~!" she declared.

"Hi Kaito," Ran added, coming in behind her with an apologetic smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel like I'm famous," Kaito said, grinning. "People keep coming to see me and bringing me flowers."

"Yeah?" Sonoko said, hands on her hips. "Well don't let it go to your head. I'm looking forward to the day when you're _actually_ famous."

"Here, let's put these roses in some water." Ran set a small plastic vase on the table beside the bed and Sonoko leaned over Mitsuhiko's shoulder to slide a white rose out of the paper wrapping.

"This one's from me!" she said, dropping it into the vase.

"This one's mine!" Genta announced, pulling out a yellow rose and placing it with Sonoko's.

"I chose blue," Mitsuhiko said, adding his rose as well. Ran reached over and selected a peach rose.

"This one is from me," she said with a smile.

"And I picked this one!" Ayumi held up a soft pink rose. "Know why?" she asked Kaito.

"It's just like the first rose I gave to you," Kaito answered. He was positively beaming as Ayumi slid the fifth flower in among the others.

"That's right!" she said. "You gave it to me to cheer me up, so now you've got a whole bunch here to help you get better quick."

"Thanks, you guys. All of you," Kaito said, and he couldn't have stopped smiling even if he wanted to, poker face or no. "Seriously, you guys are the best."

.

A while later, after the sun had fully set and Shinichi had seen Ran, Sonoko, and the kids off, he returned to the room with a somewhat sheepish smile and a faint blush, and held up a single red rose. "Mind if I add one more?"

Kaito smiled as Shinichi tucked the new rose in among the others. Then, without a word, he toed off his shoes and got up onto the bed, carefully maneuvering around the IV to lay close by Kaito's side. It was a little worrying when Kaito didn't make any teasing comment about his hypocrisy and instead just closed his eyes and rested his head against Shinichi's shoulder.

"Remind me again why you didn't just tell them who you were after you got shot during that heist two years ago," Shinichi murmured, reaching up to drag his fingers through the parts of Kaito's hair not wrapped down with bandages. It was still doing its best to stick up in every direction and he smiled a little, helping it along.

"I knew I needed to pull another heist before I would have been released," Kaito replied without opening his eyes. "I knew I'd have to sneak out and I didn't want anything adding up, you know?"

"Right…" Shinichi said. "And with 'Pandora' gone… what happens to KID?"

"He keeps stealing," Kaito answered easily. "I still have to find the real thing and destroy it. I'll take a break for now… but it's not over yet."

Shinichi nodded. "Will they get suspicious?" he asked. "Or want revenge?"

"Of course."

"And you'll do it anyway."

"Yeah," Kaito said. "It'll still draw them out. Every one we catch is another one off the streets."

"Well," Shinichi sighed. "We got Merlot."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And from what I heard from Shiratori-keibu, it sounds like Vodka was arrested too, not to mention all the ones brought in from the docks."

"That's pretty good for one night," Kaito said. He did not mention Snake. Shinichi didn't either.

"I guess," Shinichi said instead. "So… how are you really feeling?"

"Good," Kaito answered, somewhat automatically.

Shinichi was silent so Kaito opened his eyes, glancing up at him. "Well… better, anyway," he allowed at the look Shinichi was giving him, but Shinichi didn't let up, not buying it for an instant. "Okay, kind of awful actually," he finally admitted, turning his face against Shinichi's shoulder.

"…What happened?" Shinichi asked.

Kaito was quiet for a long time and Shinichi didn't push. Eventually he answered, soft and hesitant, "I was about to jump from the roof with Snake and set off the bombs… but Gin showed up and I couldn't get them both clear. But then… Gin just shot Snake in the back. Shot me _through_ him. I saw it coming. We were already falling when it happened but I just…" He faltered a little and Shinichi took his hand and turned his head to rest his chin in Kaito's hair, holding him as much as he could. When Kaito's voice returned it seemed stronger. "I didn't get the glider open in time. I can't really remember hitting the deck but when I woke up… Snake…" He tensed, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to banish the images in his mind. He'd spent a long time trying to figure out why Snake's death, and his own part in it, felt so different from the moment Jack Connery had slipped from his grasp and fallen to his death. At first he'd thought it was because Connery had made the decision himself, but maybe it was that he was scared some part of him _wanted_ Snake's death – like he could have done more to prevent it, if he had really tried.

Shinichi didn't move, taking in the situation and knowing a little of what Kaito was probably feeling. He squeezed his hand a little tighter and whispered, "It's not your fault."

"I know that," Kaito said. "…I think I know that. It… doesn't feel like that."

Shinichi's jaw clenched. _I hate this,_ he thought, glancing down at Kaito, helpless. _I hate how this happened. Snake killed Kaito's father. He almost killed Kaito. Almost killed me. And Kaito still has to_ care _that the bastard is dead. He's still hurting him. And no logic can stop this kind of hurt._

"…It's okay," Shinichi said softly. "I know."

.

 **Author Note**

Don't worry, guys. I wouldn't leave it like this. The next and final chapter is called "Flying." Please look forward to it~!


	36. Chapter 36

**Case 36 – Flying**

.

"They're coming over here _again_?"

Agasa put down his phone and wheeled his desk chair back over to his computer. "Now, now, don't be like that, Ai-kun. You can't blame them. They've been spending a lot of time at The Blue Parrot and Kaito-kun's mother's house too. Being alone is probably hard on them right now with Kaito-kun's injuries and Gin still at large."

"Can't blame them, huh?" she muttered and Agasa let out a sigh.

"Weren't you planning to work in the lab tonight anyway?" he asked. "They won't bother you–"

"I suddenly don't feel like working in the lab anymore," she said in a haughty tone and Agasa shook his head a little with a quiet smile when she turned away.

 _She cares too much…_ he thought. _Maybe one of these days she'll admit it._

.

Late that night, Haibara glanced up from the article she was reading on her phone. The lights were out, a movie playing quietly on the TV under the sound of Agasa's snoring, and Shinichi and Kaito were sitting on the couch across from her. Both of them had finally fallen asleep propped against each other, and she shut off her phone, hopping down off of the opposite couch to retrieve a spare blanket. As she climbed up beside them and covered them with it, Shinichi opened one eye and gave her a cheeky grin.

"I wouldn't expect you to do something so motherly," he whispered.

Haibara froze for a moment, her face going a little pink, but then her expression flattened again and she flicked a corner of the blanket at Shinichi's face with a quiet "Hmph." She hopped down again and returned to the other couch.

"You don't have to hide it, you know," Shinichi laughed softly, tugging the blanket down and adjusting it a little around Kaito's cast. "It's okay to care about your friends."

"Who asked you?" Haibara whispered back, but there was no bite to it, only resignation. She glanced at Kaito in the light from the TV and Shinichi breathed out a laugh.

"It's okay. He's really asleep." He reached over to brush his fingers through Kaito's bangs with a small smile. "He's been pretty worn out lately."

"…It might just be from his injuries," Haibara said. "Or the stress is finally getting to him. People can only pretend for so long."

"Yeah. I think you're right." He met her eyes, unyielding, and she had to look away. "Why can't you admit you're worried about him? He still thinks you're holding some kind of grudge–"

"Don't be an idiot," Haibara sighed. "He knows damn well how I feel. He can tell. He just lies to you – because he knows the value of secrets, and something like that isn't his to tell. Isn't that right, you stupid thief."

Shinichi looked down at Kaito again and saw the slight quirk to his lips. "Well… I can't say I knew you thought quite that highly of me," he murmured without opening his eyes. "But you're not really wrong either."

"Tch, you'd think I'd be able to tell when you're faking by now," Shinichi complained, sinking down a little farther into the cushions and slipping his arm around Kaito's waist under the blanket.

"Heh, not a chance, Tantei-kun."

"Okay, you two idiots need to _actually_ get some sleep," Haibara decided, getting up to turn off the TV. "Take my bed. I've got work to do." Before they could argue, she headed down to the basement and closed the door behind her.

"Geez, that woman," Shinichi muttered. "Well, what do you think?"

"I think she'd probably be pissed if we left at this point," Kaito answered.

"Yeah, I think you're right. Come on." He reached over to grab the crutch leaning against the side of the couch and helped Kaito to his feet, supporting him to keep his weight off of his injured leg until he had the crutch under his good arm to lean on. They made their way over to Haibara's bed in the dark and laid down pressed close against each other.

"Hey, Shinichi," Kaito murmured. "What are we gonna do after I get better? She'll start to get suspicious about us coming over here eventually."

"I wouldn't worry," Shinichi whispered back. "I think she'll feel okay again soon. Especially if you're planning what I think you are."

Kaito breathed out a little laugh. "You noticed that, huh?"

"What, you scoping the place out whenever she wasn't looking? Yeah, I noticed. You thinking security system?"

"Yeah," Kaito answered. "Something lower maintenance than mine. I've already got some ideas."

"Mm. Sounds good," Shinichi murmured.

"Heh. Good night, Shinichi," Kaito said, and he tugged him a little closer under their blanket. Shinichi took the hint and snaked an arm over Kaito's torso, resting his head against Kaito's shoulder.

"Good night, Kaito."

.

"Christmas in Paris?" Yukiko gasped over the phone. "Oh, Shin-chan, how romantic! I'm jealous!"

Shinichi let out an aggravated sigh. "No, Kaa-san. We're going to Lyon, and we'll be back _before_ Christmas."

"You're no fun at all, Shinichi," she pouted back. "You get that from your father. Don't you think Kai-chan would appreciate a romantic Christmas in Paris?"

"I'm sure he would," Shinichi muttered. Then, more clearly, he said, "But Kaito and I have both missed a lot of school and work lately." _And thieving,_ he silently added. "So I'm going for the conference and Kaito's coming with me and that's it."

"And?" Yukiko prompted impatiently. "You keep mentioning this 'conference' but you haven't said a word about what it's for."

"Leave him alone, Yukiko," Shinichi heard in the background of the call. "He's not supposed to talk about it."

 _How the hell does Tou-san always know about these things?_ Shinichi wondered. "Anyway," he said. "We'll be boarding soon, so I should get going. Talk to you later." He hung up just as Kaito was finally emerging from the depths of his bag.

"Found it! Here," he said, tossing something to Shinichi. He caught it one-handed and held it up in front of his eyes. It was a little triangular charm marked with a familiar four-leaf clover.

"I made one for you," Kaito said with a mischievous grin. "Figured you could use the luck."

"Heh, you sound like Hattori," Shinichi said, but he tucked the charm into his pocket. "What, you don't wanna fly an airplane with me again?" he asked with a mock tone of insult.

"I think I'll take a rain check," Kaito answered with a smirk.

.

The headquarters of Interpol was a huge mirrored building in Lyon, France. As Shinichi stared up at it, he thought that it could have been intimidating, but he'd been to Osaka's police headquarters and it somehow didn't feel that different. Even knowing that inside was a gathering of police from around the world that he would be speaking to – in English for the most part no less – it still didn't bother him. What he couldn't quite make peace with was what he would be talking _about_. Telling Megure about his involvement with the Black Organization was one thing, but telling a large assembly of strangers was another thing entirely. He let out a sigh and reached for the doors.

He was definitely early. Kaito had been too restless that morning to sit in the hotel room, and had gone out to "explore the city," though from the look Kaito had given him before he left, Shinichi got the feeling that wasn't all that his plans included. But sitting alone in the hotel had made Shinichi restless as well, so he'd ended up at ICPO, clipping on his visitor's badge and wandering aimlessly to kill time before he had to meet up with Megure, who had also flown out to represent the Tokyo MPD.

Shinichi's mind was occupied enough with the impending conference that he didn't really register the fact that he hadn't passed any people in some time. Then, just as he absently turned another corner, he heard the sound of a dove cooing from somewhere down the hallway. He froze for a moment then started slowly toward the sound.

"Hello?" he said in what he hoped was not too badly accented French, poking his head through an open doorway at the end of the hall. He was mostly unsurprised when Kaito suddenly pulled him into the room and replied in a perfect-French purr, "Hello, little detective~"

"What are you doing here?" Shinichi sighed, instantly switching back to Japanese.

" _I,_ " Kaito said with emphasis. "Am very responsibly looping a feed of this empty room on that security camera over there so that I can visit my boyfriend who won't admit that he's freaking out right now."

"I am not freaking out," Shinichi replied firmly. "And how the hell did you get that dove past airport security? Twice."

The dove in question was patiently preening its feathers on the back of a chair tucked under a small table in what Shinichi was only just registering as some kind of break room or kitchen area.

"That's Shiranosuke, right?"

"Yeah. He's got the most even temperament so I chose him to come along."

"And what are you planning on doing that you need one of your doves?" Shinichi asked.

"Well, I already combed the building for bombs and listening devices last night," he said with a shrug. "But I'm _planning_ to keep watch over this conference of yours anyway. Just in case."

"Kaito…" Shinichi hesitated then reached out and tugged gently on the hem of Kaito's sweater, bringing him a little closer so he could brush his lips against the corner of Kaito's. "Thank you." When he pulled back he added, incredulous, "Geez, aren't you exhausted?"

"We're in _France_ ," Kaito replied, giving him a bright-eyed smile. "There's no time to be exhausted! I don't know how you can sit still!"

"Heh, I promise I'll be more excited after the conference is over."

"Shinichi, relax. It's gonna be fine."

"Yeah, I know," he replied.

"You know, huh?" Kaito raised an eyebrow over a knowing smirk. "Know what I think?" He grabbed onto Shinichi's hips and pushed him a few steps backward, moving with him until Shinichi ran into the counter that spanned one wall.

"Kaito–"

"I think you're overthinking it." He leaned in, his lips just brushing against Shinichi's as he murmured, "I think you need a distraction."

Neither moved for a moment, Kaito waiting for Shinichi's verdict and Shinichi weighing his sense of propriety against his trust in Kaito (more specifically, his trust in Kaito's unparalleled ability to get away with less than proper things without anyone ever knowing). He found he wasn't surprised when his trust in Kaito won out. Really, it was just simple fact that that trust won out over a lot of Shinichi's better senses.

Shinichi pushed forward just a little and caught Kaito's lips with his own, carefully suppressing an inappropriate sound of approval when Kaito pushed back, pinning him in place with his body so his hands could move more freely. Shinichi, however, could only move his hands from where they were bracing him against the counter at the risk of Kaito bending him over backwards completely and probably knocking his head into the cabinets on the wall behind him while he was at it. So instead Kaito gripped his hips hard and boosted him upward, seating him on the countertop and standing between his spread legs. Immediately he moved in for another kiss and grinned into it as Shinichi's fingers tangled into Kaito's hair.

"So," Kaito breathed out against Shinichi's cheek when they finally broke apart. "Are you sufficiently distracted now?"

"Huh? Distracted from what?" Shinichi asked a little distantly and Kaito laughed.

"I'll take that as a yes." He cast a glance at his watch. "Hey, aren't you meeting Megure-keibu soon?"

"What?" He grabbed Kaito's wrist and turned it around. "Kaito!" Shinichi pushed the tittering magician back and jumped down from the counter, stumbling a little in his haste as he made for the door.

"Hang on just a second," Kaito said, snagging him by the back of his blazer before he could reach it. He pulled Shinichi back and turned him around, quick fingers already re-tucking his shirt and straightening the lopsided tie and smoothing his hair back into the familiar almost-well-groomed style he'd always worn. "There," he said. He kissed him again, chaste but lingering, then spun him where he stood to give him a little shove toward the door. "Knock 'em dead, Tantei-kun!"

"Still not funny, Kaito," Shinichi warned, smiling back at him over his shoulder before he took off through the door at a run.

.

The conference lasted all day and well into the night, and Kaitou KID sat on the roof of the building, listening carefully to all of the discussions through the device Shinichi had allowed to be planted on him. When it finally concluded without incident, Kaito changed back into street clothes and met Shinichi at the doors.

"Hotel first," Kaito said. "Then dinner."

Shinichi agreed gratefully. He wanted to discuss everything with Kaito as soon as possible, and that wasn't something they could do in a public place.

.

"A _task force_ ," Kaito breathed out in wonder, throwing himself onto the hotel bed. "You have a _task force_!"

"I'm _on_ a task force," Shinichi corrected. "Conditionally."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm still gonna absolutely _terrorize_ you and whoever Megure-keibu assigns to your team."

"It's not a _KID_ task force!" Shinichi tried, but he knew it was hopeless. He tugged off his tie and tossed it and his blazer onto a nearby chair, starting on the buttons of his shirt. "Don't I get any credit for the official temporary reprieve and police cooperation with you?"

"That just sucks the fun out of it," Kaito sighed, folding his hands behind his head.

"You want to help, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. And I know _mutual_ cooperation is important. But it's still less fun."

"Weren't you _just_ saying you'd be terrorizing the Organization task force? Quit complaining."

Kaito grinned. "You're right. No more complaining. We're in _France_." He jumped up from the bed again and latched onto Shinichi from behind before he could actually manage to put on the sweater in his hands. "The Fête des Lumières starts tomorrow night," Kaito murmured against his neck. "It'd be a shame to miss it."

Kaito's hands were wandering now, taking the sweater away from Shinichi and tossing it onto the bed, then moving slow and appreciative over Shinichi's bare chest and stomach. Shinichi pushed them away and turned in the circle of Kaito's arms to face him.

"Then that's what we'll do tomorrow night," he agreed. "And _tonight_ …" He trailed off with obvious purpose in both his tone and his gaze, slipping his arms around Kaito.

"Tonight?" Kaito prompted with clear expectation.

Shinichi smirked and stole a brief kiss, then pulled away, quickly snatching up his sweater and dragging it over his head and into place. "Tonight we go get dinner. I'm starving," he said, heading for the bathroom.

Kaito laughed. "Okay. Well played." He was about to say something more but stopped when Shinichi poked his head back around the corner and added, "And unless you say something cheesy about 'dessert' right now, we'll be breaking in that bed when we get back."

Kaito's smile broke into a grin as Shinichi disappeared again. "Dammit I love that man."

.

"I can _see_ you getting ideas," Shinichi said, glancing at the childlike glee in Kaito's wide eyes as the wild light displays flashed across the buildings all around them the next night.

"Come on, can you blame me?" Kaito breathed out in distracted French. Then in Japanese he added, "I mean, France is where KID got his _start_ , you know? And this… This is incredible! I can't wait to start work on my next heist!" He caught sight of the Tour Part-Dieu not far in the distance and Shinichi saw a familiar flash in the magician's eyes as they slid up the great height of the tower to the glowing pyramid at the top. He leaned over, pressed a soft kiss to Kaito's cheek, and whispered, "Go on."

Kaito smiled at him. Then he was suddenly holding a folded bundle that Shinichi recognized as the black glider cape. "Come with me?"

Shinichi's heart sped as he looked to the tower again, his eyes drawn to it without conscious thought. But then a grin broke over his face and he met Kaito's gaze. "Yeah. Let's go."

.

The icy wind at the top of the Tour Part-Dieu was more intense than Shinichi had imagined, but Kaito – or rather KID – didn't seem to notice at all. He was staring out over the glowing city and Shinichi had to admit that seeing the festival from so high above was a stunning experience. Between that and the fact that Kaito had come prepared not only with the KID uniform but also a black suit, midnight blue shirt, black silk hat, and monocle for Shinichi, he was beginning to suspect that this had been Kaito's plan all along.

Shinichi let out a little sigh, smiling as he stepped up to the edge of the roof beside KID. The full moon was high in the sky in front of them, the city a sea of dancing lights below, and they glanced at each other with mirrored grins. Without a word, they leapt into the night wind, and for a moment it was as if they could fly with the pull of the moon alone.

The gliders flared open and Shinichi followed KID as he sailed out over the streets, past the flashing facades of buildings and over glowing parks, shimmering fountains and bright parades, dodging hanging lanterns as they coasted lower, and soaking in the excited calls as people took notice.

"Look, look! That's the Phantom Thief KID!"

"No way! He's back?"

"It's gotta be an actor for the festival."

"I heard something big happened in Japan. Maybe it's really him!"

"Is that Chat Noir with him?"

"No, Chat Noir uses a paraglider!"

Shinichi caught a flash of the amused grin KID threw back at him over his shoulder and rolled his eyes.

He was convinced of Kaito's foreplanning when they finally came to a graceful landing on a small boat tucked between the legs of a stone bridge over Le Rhône, the two of them disappearing as far as anyone on the banks could tell. They were both flushed from the cold and wind and neither could seem to stop smiling. Then Shinichi took off his monocle, grabbed KID by the front of his jacket, and pulled him into a deep kiss that knocked his own hat right off of his head and left them both breathless.

"That was the most amazing thing I've ever done," Shinichi breathed out, keeping close against KID. KID just laughed, drawing gloved fingers through Shinichi's hair. "You know," he added. "You've got a lot of fans here. Even the police here are kind of enamored of you, even if most of them don't admit it."

"Yeah?" KID asked, grinning.

"So I was thinking… We've got a few more days before we fly back to Tokyo. How 'bout a heist?"

Shinichi hadn't thought it possible for Kaito to look any happier at that moment, but, as he so often did, he proved him wrong. KID's arms tightened around him as he stole another kiss, then murmured with that same grin, "My darling Tantei-kun… I thought you'd never ask~!"

…

" _Vodka was an unfortunate loss. And Merlot of course."_

" _Yeah. But nothing is permanent. Jail is just a place."_

" _Death is, of course, more permanent. For now."_

" _You want Merlot taken care of?"_

"… _Heh, just Merlot, Gin?"_

"… _You want Vodka taken care of?"_

" _No. Leave them. They're not worth the risk or the resources."_

" _Fine."_

" _I want you to go to Yokosuka."_

" _What's there?"_

" _Your new partner. Without Pandora, we need to rearrange our priorities. I want Sherry back, and that Kudou Shinichi. Get it done, Gin. However you can. But keep them alive."_

" _Heh. Sherry… She slips death again, huh?"_

" _You and your new partner will both have to put personal feelings aside now. This is more important."_

" _It won't be easy. The detective works closely with the MPD, and he's teamed up with that thief, Kaitou KID."_

"… _The Kaitou KID is a… related problem. Bring him in if you get the chance. Dead or alive, I don't care, though I doubt you'll be able to kill him. No one's managed it yet, and not for lack of trying."_

" _I'll see what I can do."_

.

The black Porsche rolled down the alley, the sound of the engine echoing a little in the quiet before sunrise. The headlights washed over a dark red Harley-Davidson straight ahead and Gin stepped out of the car, clenching his teeth a little around his cigarette.

"I'm in no mood for your games," he said to the empty alleyway.

"Oh, come on." Vermouth stepped into the light, tapping a cigarette out of her pack. "You're still no fun." She walked up to him, standing uncomfortably close, but Gin stood his ground. "Relax," she said, her hand on his chest. "I just need a light." Her fingers slipped under his coat and Gin grabbed her wrist in warning, but when she pulled back she was only holding his lighter. She shook off Gin's hold and lit her cigarette, taking in a long draw.

"What are you doing here, Vermouth?"

"Oh? You didn't know? I'm your new partner." She took a step back and tossed the lighter to him, and he caught it with a scowl. "Let's do our best together, okay?" She turned away and swung a leg over her bike. It roared to life and she revved the engine.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gin demanded.

"We're going back to my place," she answered with a wink. She took a long pull from her cigarette and tossed it away. "Follow me."

Vermouth pushed her helmet down over her head and sped off around a corner without waiting for Gin to get back in his car, but she saw his headlights in her mirrors before she got very far away.

 _Sorry, Silver Bullet,_ she thought as she led Gin through the streets toward her hotel. _I did my best, but your only option now is to surrender Sherry and come with us. I can guarantee your life… but not your heart._ She glanced in her mirror again. _…It's only a matter of time._

.

 **Author Note:**

What's that? It was all wrapped up and then I went and put in a shifty, threatening scene with Gin and Vermouth that unraveled the whole thing? It's almost like there's gonna be a… yeah I wrote a freaking sequel. Oops. lol Well, I guess it's more accurate to say I am in the process of writing the sequel. It's called Gravity, and it's far from finished, but I hope you'll indulge me and pay it a visit once it's done.

In the meantime, I'll be posting some bonus chapters for Fall into Flying based on some of the comments I've received throughout the posting (and beta-ing) of this story, as well as some scenes that I had written but cut for pacing or length reasons. I hope you all enjoy :)

.

If you felt like there were a lot of references to events and landmarks in France in this chapter that you'd like to know more about, I've included links to ICPO, the Festival of Lights, the Tour Part-Dieu, and the Pont Wilson (the referenced bridge over Le Rhône) at the end of this chapter on AO3.

Specifically concerning the 2015 Festival of Lights (where the last scene technically falls in the timeline), this festival was actually cancelled owing to the state of emergency and out of respect for the victims of the Paris attacks in November of 2015. I wrote this scene around July of 2015 and decided not to change it after hearing about the cancellation later. The purpose of the scene was to provide a sense of revival and hope. It seems appropriate.

.

If you don't want to wait for Gravity and you need more longer, plotty kaishin fics in your life, I'd like to personally recommend a few:

Midnight White by Alaena F. Dragonstar was the first kaishin fic I ever read and it totally made this pairing my OTP. It's got a supernatural element to it and the whole thing is just awesome so check it out.

Also amazing and one of my absolute favorites is Countdown to Forever by V. Shaylr. I've read this one at least three times just cause I like it so much. Seriously.

Deal by joisbishmyoga has been around for a while, but I only just read it recently. It is a fantastic piece of writing. It's well thought out, the language is beautiful, and it is the truest to Japanese culture of any fanfic I have ever read (not including any of joisbishmyoga's other amazing works, of course). (Note that joisbishmyoga is on ff-net, but Deal is not. I believe (unless I am mistaken) that that one is only posted on her AO3 account.)

And, if you happen to also like Gundam Wing, solomonara over on AO3 has written a lovely DCMK/GW crossover :) It's called My Future in Your Hands and it will _blow your mind_. You should read it. Twice.

(All recommendations made with the permission of the authors. Happy reading, everyone!)


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